Q: Is government taking steps to equip as many pathological labs across the country with the necessary items and equipment to check ordinary cases of influenza/viral fever in case the patient has bird flu?

A:The government has designated 2 centres for testing of human samples for bird flu 1) The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune 2) National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi Apart from these designated sites, the testing facilities might be available at large teaching hospitals, like the AIIMS. The government has a surveillance system for bird flu, and shall probably introduce other steps for prompt diagnosis and management of bird flu cases, as and when (or if) they occur.