India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

[Treyfish]

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width="90%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=quote>Fresh cases of bird flu

Statesman News Service
KRISHNAGAR/BURDWAN, Jan. 20: Fresh reports of chicken deaths were reported today from two new places in Nadia. This comes at a time when officials are still struggling to carry out culling of the chickens in the affected areas of Tehatta-I and II and Krishnagar-I and II blocks following resistance from villagers.
According to district animal husbandry department, hundreds of chickens died of unknown disease in the villages under Taldaha-Majdiya gram panchayat in Krishnaganj block and Hatisala gram panchayat in Chapra block over the past few days.
Mr Gour Biswas, sabhapati of the Krishnaganj panchayat samity said: ?I have reported the unnatural deaths of chickens in Taladaha area to authorities and urged them to take immediate action.? Chapra block administrative officer Mr Bhaba Sindhu Mondol said: ?A stray dog was found dead after eating the carcasses of a few chickens which were dumped near Hatra village. I have brought the attention of the incident to the district administration.? Besides chickens, pigeons were also found dead in Muragacha near Bethuadahari Sanctuary. The district administration has sent the samples of the dead pigeons to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal.
In Katwa, poultry owners demanded immediate compensation when officials and experts went there to carry out culling of birds in the H5N1 virus affected Durmut panchayat. Only 45 birds could be culled today, though the target was 200.
This morning, when the health workers asked a poultry owner, Mr Anisur Rehman Haq, to hand over birds for culling, he opposed. About 1,000 chicks and 700 adult broiler birds in one Haq?s poultry have been affected by the virus.
Mr Haq, however, said, ?No blood sample was collected from my poultry and not a single bird died here. If they want me to hand over the birds, I demand on-the-spot compensation.?
Following strong resistance from villagers, officials and experts had to leave the affected areas in presence of the police. The district administration will, however, carry out culling process tomorrow with the help of police and panchayat officials.
Mr Krishendu Sadhu Khan, SDO of Katwa said: ?Our teams will be going to the affected area for mass culling. We will ask elected panchayat members from respective areas to convince the villagers about the need to cull the chickens.?
The administration had deployed 13 teams to the Bird flu-affected villages in Mongalkote block today to carry out culling. Each team comprises seven members, besides police personnel. Two veterinary experts from Memari and Bhatar, Dr Anarul Haq and Dr Prasanta Banerjee, were also there to help the process.
Meanwhile, the district administration received reports of the samples collected from the villages Jaggeswardihi, Bonkapasi, Baktona, Srikhanda, Napara in Durmut panbchayat area. The reports have confirmed the existance of flu. The villages under the panchayat witnessed death of more than 20,000 birds in four days.
New cases of avian flu were also reported from Jamuria and Raniganj under the Assansol sub division this evening. Almost 7,000 chickens from the Hijalgora and Pariharpur areas of Jamuria and Kunustoria, two kilometres from Raniganj and Raniganj have died over the past five days. When contacted, SDO (Assansol) Mr Alokesh Roy said that he had received information about chicken deaths from these areas..
While officials of the Assansol Municipal Corporation have inspected several markets places where chicken are slaughtered, no decision has yet been take regarding the culling of chickens.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Helblindi Statesman

[Treyfish]

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

NRI doctors help contain bird flu
Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Monday, January 21, 2008 02:10 IST


KOLKATA: They did not know each other until a few days ago, and met for the first time when they came to Kolkata to attend a seminar recently.
But the outbreak of avian flu in certain districts of West Bengal brought them closer, and all five of them are now scanning through affected districts, helping and advising people on how to avoid contamination and take medical precautions in case of contamination.
All young apprentice NRI doctors, they are pursuing higher studies in the different fields of medicine in UK, and have roots in Kolkata. They came to the city recently with the dual intention of a holiday and also to attend a local seminar.
However, during their stay, the avian flu broke out. Newspaper reports on the administration?s negligence in controlling the contamination prompted them to extend their holiday and assist in controlling the contamination.
Dr Tanish Mukherjee, the senior-most among them and currently a student of the Member of Royal College of Gynaecology in UK, was the first to take the initiative, and was soon able to convince four others to join him in the mission.
?To be frank, none of us are experts in veterinary science or have first-hand knowledge of handling the avian flu contamination. I am an apprentice gynaecologist and our team has one surgeon, one cardiologist and an orthopaedist. But we are also doctors since all of us have successfully completed MBBS, and one is an MD.
So we thought we can do the minimum possible on our part, at least to alert people whose lives are under threat,? Mukherjee told DNA.
Dr Debyojoti Dey, a student of Member of Royal College of Surgery, said that they have identified places where the outbreak is most severe.
?Now we will individually go to the affected blocks and do counselling work. If the local administration helps us, it would be better. If they don?t, we will do our part. We have consulted our senior doctors in UK and have figured out the antidotes available in India, and each of us is carrying a stock of antidotes for the emergency,? Dey said. When asked whether they have approached the local administration for help, Mukherjee said that there is no point in approaching them in advance.
?When we will work in the field, the local health officers will come to know and if they feel that we are doing good work they will voluntarily assist us. All we want is some cooperation, so that there is no difficulty in doing our work,? he said. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1146457

[Treyfish]

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Bird flu hits TN egg production
Chennai, Jan.20: Bird fly in West Bengal has severely affected the poultry owners in Tamil Nadu, as many countries have stopped buying eggs and chicken from the State and consumers avoiding poultry items for fear of infection.
Namakkal district, having more than 800 farms and producing about 2.5 crore eggs was the worst hit, as egg prices had to be reduced due to the decreasing demand every day. Namakkal Zone National Eggs Co-ordination panel, held a meeting today and decided to reduce the prices by 40 paise per egg.
The chicken price had also been reduced by 25 per cent.SNS http://www.thestatesman.net/page.new...ss=1&id=186827

[sharon sanders]

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Bird flu spread outpaces culling in Bengal



Kolkata, Jan 21 (IANS) The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was spreading further in West Bengal, outpacing culling operations, a minister confirmed Sunday.
The southern district of Bankura was the latest addition to the list of affected areas, taking to six the total number of districts in the grip of the deadly virus.
"Bird flu in Saltora block of Bankura district has been confirmed by the HSADL (High Security Animal Disease Laboratory), Bhopal, while we have confirmation of the strain from new areas of the existing districts," West Bengal Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahman told IANS.
"Nanoor in worst-hit Birbhum district and three more blocks - Suti I, Sagardighi and Beldanga I - are added to the list," he said.
"We are increasing the number of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) to 400 from the existing 200 to keep pace with the spread of bird flu," Rahman said.
"The culling was affected Sunday because of Muharram, but we hope to cope up with the challenge," he said.
While the minister could not spell out the exact number of poultry birds culled, he said around 130,000 chicken and ducks were culled since Wednesday when the operation began.
The state set a target of slaughtering 400,000 poultry but with the spread of the disease to new areas at least 300,000 more birds will have to be killed.
The six affected districts are Birbhum, South Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Burdwan and Bankura.
The minister said the culling was almost complete in Balurghat in South Dinajpur, about 375 km from here.
Reacting to the central government's criticism of the measures taken in West Bengal, Rahman said that the flu outbreak in Maharashtra in 2006 was in a farm.
"But here you have to deal with poultry birds in backyards. In many places, the villagers consider the poultry as part of their family and do not want to part with them.
"We are doing our best going by the fact that something like this has happened for the first time in the state," Rahman said.
Union Minister of State for Health Panabaka Lakshmi had said here Saturday: "We are not satisfied (with the measures to combat bird flu)." Although she did not specify where the state was lacking, she alleged that the compensation for poultry owners was not properly distributed.
About 100,000 poultry deaths were reported in West Bengal in the past three weeks.
Meanwhile, the forest department has decided to monitor thousands of migratory birds from Siberia and East Europe that visit the state every winter.
More officials have been posted at Santragachi Lake in Howrah, 10 km from Kolkata, where migratory birds started arriving in October.
The state government has allocated Rs.30 million for compensation to those losing their poultry birds, Rahman said.
Farmers were being handed over tokens at culling sites and asked to contact their panchayat or village block offices for the money. The payment is Rs.40 for a country chicken, Rs.30 for a broiler and Rs.10 for a chick.
While the minister claimed that culling operations had been stepped up, reports from the districts said the process was slow, often due to villagers' resistance.
But in areas where a large number of poultry birds had died of the infection, the villagers were eager to offer their chickens and ducks for culling.
The H5N1 virus causes a type of influenza in birds that is highly contagious and can be deadly. It does not usually infect people unless they come in close contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces.
IANS

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=64613

[sharon sanders]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Previous thread:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49068

[sharon sanders]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Hat tip Muscade

India Maintains Strict Vigil as Bird Flu Spreads to New Regions
By Jay Shankar and Thomas Kutty Abraham



Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- India is maintaining a ``strict vigil'' on its eastern state of West Bengal to prevent an outbreak of avian flu from infecting humans after the disease spread to two new districts, a state minister said.
The outbreak is the 10th in India since the lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus was first reported to have killed poultry there in February 2006.
``All precautionary measures have been taken,'' Anisur Rahman, West Bengal's animal resources minister, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The government has stocked hospitals with drugs, such as Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu, and health workers are raising public awareness of the possibility of infection from handling dead or sick poultry, he said.
No human cases in India have been recorded from the H5N1 strain, which world health authorities say risks becoming better adapted to humans, sparking a global pandemic. Two women died from H5N1 during the past two weeks in Indonesia, bringing to 350 the number of human cases worldwide since 2003.
``I hope that situation won't arise'' in India, Rahman said over the telephone from Kolkata.
More than three of every five human cases have been fatal, and were caused by contact with infected poultry, according to the World Health Organization. Early signs of the disease range from fever and cough to diarrhea and vomiting, researchers said in a Jan. 17 report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
More than 96,000 chickens have died in an outbreak covering seven districts of West Bengal, the federal government said in a statement posted on its Web site. Fifty-two samples of poultry, duck, pigeon and crows from five districts have been sent for testing, the statement said.
Culling Chickens
The disease has spread to two new districts of Nadia and Burdwan, minister Rahman said. ``A target of culling 600,000 chickens in two districts of Birbhum and Murshidabad has been fixed. It is progressing satisfactorily in other districts of Dinajpur and Burdwan as well.''
The number of teams involved in culling will increase to 300 from 60 by today, Rahman said. There is no shortage of volunteers or personnel to cull the birds and no other birds or animals have been affected by the infection, he said.
Villagers objected to culling initially and there was a ``problem regarding the mode of compensation,'' Rahman said. The government has paid more than 40 million rupees ($1 million) as compensation to the villagers affected by the culling operations, he said. ``Due to a lack of awareness, the farmers had resisted. They are supporting us now.''
West Bengal consumes on average 13.7 million eggs daily and 1.2 million kilograms of chicken meat, or about 900,000 birds, according to Venky's (India) Ltd., the country's biggest supplier of poultry products.
Impact on Prices
``The losses are more from exports being hit rather than local consumption being affected,'' Anuradha Desai, chairman of Venky's, said in an interview. ``Consumption in West Bengal has been hit and it's largely limited to that market.''
The flu outbreak hasn't affected the demand for poultry feed or its prices as the problem is still largely localized, Desai said. ``It's unfortunate that bird flu has hit India's poultry industry again. We need to take preventive measures to ensure it doesn't reoccur,'' she said.
Prices of corn, a main source of poultry feed, declined in the local market, Desai said. Prices of corn for February delivery on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. in Mumbai have fallen 8 percent since the outbreak was first reported on Jan. 15. The contract fell 8.50 rupees, or 1.1 percent, to 800 rupees per 100 kilograms on Jan. 19.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jay Shankar in Bangalore at Jshankar1@bloomberg.net ; Thomas Kutty Abraham in Mumbai at Tabraham4@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 20, 2008 20:16 EST

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aDxTZiAjf5Lg&refer=healthcare#

[Niko]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

West Bengal battles with bird flu

<!-- S BO --> <!-- S IBYL --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="416"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="bottom"> By Rahul Tandon
BBC News, Margram
</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

<!-- E IBYL --> <!-- S IIMA --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr><td> Few villagers know anything about the dangers of avian flu

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA --> Margram is a large village in West Bengal - it is also the epicentre of the bird flu outbreak.

As I walk into the village, I can see a group of young children playing in the fields. Next to them are dead chickens.

Some of the children are picking up the dead bird's feathers to sell.

They have no idea of the dangers of touching infected birds.

Next to them, sat outside his hut, is an old man.

Anwar Hoque has his head in his hands.

As I walk past he starts shouting: "We have no help from the government - we want medicines but they are not providing us with them and we have cannot afford to buy them from the shops."

There is no sign of the flu anti-viral Tamiflu here.

Slow progress

What strikes me about this rural village is the lack of government officials.
<!-- S IIMA --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr><td> Officials say not everyone is co-operating with the cull

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA -->
Many of the 60,000 people who live here keep chickens - indeed some estimate that there were 150,000 chickens in this village before the outbreak of bird flu.

For many, poultry farming is their only source of income.

Yet very few know anything about avian flu - and there seem to be few officials on hand to provide these villagers with information.

After walking around the village for 15 minutes I finally see a team of men in protective white suits.

They are part of the culling team. The state government here in West Bengal has ordered the culling of 400,000 birds.

But progress is very slow.

The man leading this team is Dr Ramchandratta. He tells me this morning they have only killed five birds.

He is angry with the villagers and says: "They are not interested in handing over their birds and that is making life very hard for us."

In front of me, one of his team has a young chick in his hand and is surrounded by a group of children.

He kills it by breaking its neck.

'Chaotic'

As I walk away Dr Ramchandratta asks me to come back.
<!-- S IIMA --> <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="203"> <tbody><tr><td> Local government has no experience of handling the disease

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- E IIMA -->
He tells me he is a "soldier of the government" and he is trying his best but people are not listening to him.

There are stories here of some villagers smuggling birds out to other areas and even of some culling teams being attacked.

It is a chaotic scene.

Just outside the village is a large yellow building. It is from here that Kakoli Mukherjee is directing operations to tackle the problem.

Sitting at her desk, she is surrounded by villagers.

She accepts that there are problems, but says: "none of us have any experience of dealing with this disease".

Avian flu is spreading across West Bengal.

As I drive out of Margram it is clear that unless the villagers and the local government start working together this problem can only get worse.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7198985.stm

<!-- E BO -->

[Niko]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

India to step up bird flu cull: officials

<!-- END HEADLINE --> <!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --> 38 minutes ago

Authorities in eastern India battling the country's worst ever outbreak of bird flu said Monday they needed to step up the slaughter of chickens and ducks to beat a spread in the virus.

Six districts in West Bengal state have reported outbreaks of avian flu among poultry, although culling teams have faced hostility from villagers and have killed just 100,000 birds out of a target of 400,000.

The state's animal resources development minister, Anisur Rahaman, said authorities now needed to nearly double that target.

"We have to cull more chickens and ducks as the disease has spread to new districts. A total of nearly 700,000 poultry would have to be culled in six districts in the next seven days," he told AFP.

"We have urged neighbouring states to send veterinary doctors to our state to control the situation," he added.

The outbreak is the third in India since 2006 and the worst so far, according to the World Health Organisation, because it is more widespread.

Residents oppose the slaughter of their birds because they want immediate compensation. Farmers have also been seen selling dead birds at cheap prices in local markets.

West Bengal state borders Bangladesh, which is also fighting a bird flu outbreak.

Humans typically catch the disease by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans.

Migratory birds have been largely blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed at least 200 people worldwide since 2003.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080121/wl_sthasia_afp/healthfluindia

[Niko]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Bird flu spreads in east India as culling slows
21 Jan 2008 04:45:17 GMT
<!-- 21 Jan 2008 04:45:17 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove --> Source: Reuters

<!-- AN5.0 article title end -->
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.alertnet.org/bin/js/article.js"></script><input value="13" name="CurrentSize" id="CurrentSize" type="hidden"><!-- Bird flu spreads in east India as culling slows --><!-- Reuters --> By Bappa Majumdar KOLKATA, India, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The deadly bird flu virus spread to a new district in eastern India, as authorities said on Monday villagers' resistance to culling operations and poor health awareness was slowing efforts to stamp out the disease. The H5N1 virus was found among dead birds in Bankura district of West Bengal.

Now six of the 19 districts in the communist-ruled state have been infected with the disease. Around 20 million people live in these infected areas.

The virus was also spreading to new areas within already infected districts and the state was finding it difficult to contain the disease. "There are difficulties and the virus is moving from one place to the other," Sanchita Bakshi, the state's health services director told Reuters. "We have to take emergency measures now to tackle the situation," she added.

Culling of poultry came to a halt on Sunday in many places as Muslims, observing the first Muslim month of Muharram, refused to hand over birds for culling. Only 125,000 birds were culled since last week and officials said they would need more time to slaughter over 500,000 birds.

Many farmers were still dumping dead birds in lakes and ponds, ignoring repeated warnings by health workers. "The villagers are unaware of the dangers and were using bare hands to hold sick birds, which is dangerous and can potentially spread the disease further," health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said.

India is yet to report a human infection, but health workers were watching for people with flu symptoms in the affected areas, officials said. Experts say the virus might mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic affecting a fifth of humanity.

Television pictures showed children playing with dead and sick chickens in Birbhum district, the epicentre of the fourth bird flu outbreak among poultry in India since 2006.

In some places, veterinarians were beaten up by villagers and thrown out of poultry farms. "How can we let them kill our healthy birds, besides we have spent all our savings to build the farm," Rahamat Ali, a poultry farm owner said by telephone from Tehatto in Nadia district.

Clearly worried at the development, the rapid response team was increased to 400, with health workers from neighbouring Assam state joining the culling operation.

Holidays of health workers were cancelled as bird deaths were reported from many areas of the state. (Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP203649.htm

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Meghalaya is not in West Bengal - West of Bangladesh - , it is an other State, just North of Bangladesh.

Meghalaya sends blood samples of chicken for tests

Shillong (PTI): With avian flu spreading fast in neighbouring West Bengal, Meghalaya has sent blood samples of chicken from the Indo-Bangla border area to the Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory for bird flu virus tests.

"We have collected the blood samples from various places along the Indo-Bangla border and have sent them for tests," Meghalaya Animal Husbandry and Veterinary director D Khonglah said here.

While ruling out any infection of birds and poultry in the state as of now, Khonglah said the government had taken adequate precautionary measures creating awareness through pamphlets.

He also said the department was examining the chicken and other poultry products which had already come in from West Bengal before the import was banned.

Frequent meetings are being held among officials and experts to see that the precautionary measures are in place.

The state has already banned entry of chicken and other poultry products from West Bengal and Bangladesh, even as additional gates have been set up along the inter-state and international borders with Bangladesh to check entry of birds into the state.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/002200801211321.htm

[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01210801/H5N1_India_Suspect_Waiting.html

[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Culling operations delayed, experts from Assam to assist

Baharampur (WB) (PTI): About 100 experts from Assam will arrive here on Monday to assist in culling operations, which have been delayed even as the H5N1 virus spread to 21 blocks of six districts in West Bengal.
State Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rehman said that 1.65 lakh chickens were culled till yesterday though it fell far short of the targeted figure which has been raised to seven lakh from the previous target of four lakh.
Unable to give a deadline for meeting the target, the minister told PTI that "several factors were delaying culling operations."
"Lack of awareness among the villagers, resistance from the poultry owners, dearth of veterinary staff capable of carrying out culling operations are slowing down the operations," he said.
Five hundred culling teams have been deployed in the affected districts, the minister said.
The experts from Assam will be deployed in Burdwan district, he added.
The state government was mapping the extent of spread of the virus to have a better idea of the exact affected areas, he said.
All possible efforts were being undertaken to contain the spread of the virus and check its transmission to human beings, he said. Bird flu spread to Bankura, the sixth district in the state and seven blocks in Murshidabad and Burdwan districts yesterday. Poultry deaths were also reported from new areas, including Darjeeling and Coochbehar.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0801211341.htm<!-- story ends -->

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

Link to situation updates from Ministry of Health, India

http://www.mohfw.nic.in/avianwb.htm

Link to latest update - pdf -

http://www.mohfw.nic.in/Status&#37;20Report%20on%20Avian%20Influenza%20in%20West%20Bengal-20.1.2008.pdf

No suspected human cases have been detected in 3 districts, Birbhum, South Dinajpur and Murshidabad.

[JohnW]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

"An agriculture-dependent state, West Bengal occupies only 2.7&#37; of the India's land area, though it supports over 7.8% of Indian population, and is the most densely populated state in India" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bengal). "A significant part of the state is economically backward, namely, large parts of six northern districts of Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur; three western districts of Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum; and the Sundarbans area" (Ibid) We continue to hear the mantra that H5N1 is extremely difficult for humans to catch. With a population of 80 million (Ibid) people packed into a small area, it would appear this statement is to be put to the test.

[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 21+

What is the population of West Bengal? We continue to hear the mantra that H5N1 is extremely difficult for humans to catch. It would appear this statement is to be put to the test in WB.

In WB H5N1 is difficult to confirm because patients are not tested.