ICAR develops bird flu vaccine

Scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have succeeded in developing an indigenous vaccine against the dreaded bird flu disease which had surfaced in February last in Navapur and Jalgaon districts, creating a scare among the chicken and egg consumers, and causing huge economic losses to the poultry industry.

This feat has been achieved by scientists working at the Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in a record time of four months under a Rs 8-crore project.

A formal announcement of the vaccine development was made by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in his address at the 77th annual general meeting of the ICAR Society here today.