Bird flu confirmed
Kolkata, Jan 15: India
has confirmed an outbreak of bird flu following the death of thousands
of chickens in the past week in West Bengal. The birds tested positive
for the potentially deadly H5N1 strain.
It is the third outbreak
since 2006 and the first since India declared itself free of the disease
last November.
The Union Agriculture
Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that thousands of chickens which died in
West Bengal’s Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts recently were infected
with bird flu virus. Tests carried out on samples sent to the High Security
Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal showed that the highly pathogenic H5N1
strain of bird flu virus killed the nearly 20,000 poultry.
The Secretary of Animal
Husbandry in the Ministry of Agriculture, Pradip Kumar said one sample
each from Birbhum and South Dinajpur had tested positive for the deadly
H5N1 virus. He however, added that no poultry deaths have been reported
from any other district in the state.
"The High Security Animal
Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal has confirmed the presence of highly
pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus," he told reporters.
The Centre had instructed
the WB government to seal the borders of the two districts immediately
after suspected bird flu was detected, Kumar said. Subsequently, all poultry
movement from the affected districts was stopped, he added.
The official informed
that the deaths among infected poultry started on January 4.
He however denied that
there is an “outbreak” of bird flu in West Bengal, saying it was a “local
occurrence”. The Centre had earlier said that it would declare the death
of the chickens as an "outbreak" after it received confirmation by the
Bhopal laboratory.
Over 3.76 lakh chickens
will be culled from tomorrow in West Bengal`s Birbhum and South Dinajpur
districts.
"Over 3.50 lakh birds
in Birbhum and 26,000 in South Dinajpur district will be culled from tomorrow,"
West Bengal Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahaman said.
The culling would be undertaken
in Rampurhat I and II, Nalhati municipality and in limited areas in Mayureshwar
and Nalhati.
Kumar also informed that
the state government has been directed to provide compensation to the affected
farmers whose birds would be culled at the same time. The state government
would pay compensation at the rate of Rs 40 per chicken and Rs 10 per chick
to poultry owners.
Earlier in the day, the
Birbhum district administration dispatched 50 special teams to help people
dispose of dead chickens in Rampurhat sub-division where bird flu alert
was sounded.
An emergency meeting of
all the Block Development Officers of Rampurhat sub-division has also reportedly
been called today to discuss the issue.
Further, a team of the
National Institute of Communicable Diseases is due in the affected areas
soon to get a preliminary report and collect samples.
Thousands of birds in
India were culled in 2006 following three separate outbreaks of the deadly
H5N1 virus in Maharashtra.
Neighbouring Bangladesh
is still reeling under bird flu with around 21 of the country`s 64 districts
affected by the deadly virus.
Experts fear the H5N1
strain of the virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious
seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions
of people.
Bird flu has killed more
than 210 people in 12 countries since 2003, the World Health Organisation
says.
|