Prelim Snippets-13.01.2020

Indian scientists have detected the country’s first case of infection with a rare variant of the virus that causes avian influenza, or Bird Flu.

Scientists of the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, have reported avian influenza A(H9N2) virus infection in a 17-month-old boy in Maharashtra.
The virus was picked up in February 2019 during a community-based surveillance study in 93 villages of Korku tribes in Melghat district of Maharashtra.
Identification of the first clinical human case of H9N2 virus infection highlights the importance of systemic surveillance in humans and animals to monitor this threat to Human Health.

H9N2 is a subtype of the influenza A virus, which causes human influenza as well as bird flu.
The H9N2 subtype was isolated for the first time in Wisconsin, US in 1966 from turkey flocks.
H9N2 viruses are found worldwide in wild birds and are endemic in poultry in many areas. However, they are somewhat neglected.
With avian influenza viruses circulating in poultry, there is a risk for sporadic infection and small clusters of human cases due to exposure to infected poultry or contaminated environments.
H9N2 virus infections in humans are rare, but likely under-reported due to typically mild symptoms of the infections. Cases of human infection have been observed in Hong Kong, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Egypt.

A new virus has been identified by Chinese researchers which is responsible for a new pneumonia-like Illness.

Coronaviruses are a specific family of viruses, with some of them causing less-severe damage, such as the common cold, and others causing respiratory and intestinal diseases.
A coronavirus has many “regularly arranged” protrusions on its surface, because of which the entire virus particle looks like an emperor’s crown, hence the name “coronavirus”.
Apart from human beings, coronaviruses can affect mammals including pigs, cattle, cats, dogs, martens, camels, hedgehogs and some birds.
So far, there are four known disease-causing coronaviruses, among which the best known are the SARS coronavirus and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Coronavirus, both of which can cause severe Respiratory Diseases.

Union Minister for Home Affairs has inaugurated the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and also dedicated National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to the Nation.

The scheme to setup I4C was approved in October 2018 to deal with all types of cybercrimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
At the initiative of Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA), 15 States and UTs have given their consent to set up Regional Cyber Crime Coordination Centres at respective States/UTs.
It has Seven Components:
- National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
- National Cyber Crime Training Centre
- National Cyber Crime Research and Innovation Centre
- National Cyber Crime Forensic Laboratory Ecosystem
- Platform for Joint Cyber Crime Investigation Team
- Cyber Crime Ecosystem Management Unit

National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) is a citizen-centric initiative that will enable citizens to report cyber-crimes online through the portal.
All the cyber-crime related complaints will be accessed by the concerned law Enforcement Agencies in the States and Union Territories for taking action as per law.
This portal was launched on pilot basis on 30th August, 2019 and it enables filing of all cyber-crimes with specific focus on crimes against women, children, particularly child pornography, child sex abuse material, online content pertaining to rapes/gang rapes, etc.
This portal also focuses on specific crimes like financial crime and social media related crimes like stalking, cyber bullying, etc.
This portal will improve coordination amongst the law enforcement agencies of different States, districts and police stations for dealing with cyber-crimes in a coordinated and Effective Manner.

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