India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Feb 10th + August 3rd 2008

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-32881920080406

Bird flu hits Tripura
Sun Apr 6, 2008 9:12pm IST

AGARTALA, India (Reuters) - A fresh outbreak of bird flu has been reported in poultry in Tripura, a top veterinary official said on Sunday.

Veterinary workers were preparing to slaughter thousands of chickens and ducks in Tripura, bordering Bangladesh, after preliminary reports that more than 3,000 birds had died, officials said.

"It is bird flu and the final report is expected tomorrow," Ashis Roy Burman, director of Tripura's Animal Resources Development Department told Reuters in Agartala.

"The virus must have spread from Bangladesh."

Authorities in Bangladesh have culled millions of birds but are still struggling to contain the virus.

In West Bengal, authorities said the deadly virus had resurfaced in Nadia district, which also borders Bangladesh.

West Bengal had briefly contained the outbreak by culling nearly four million birds in 14 of its 19 districts, but the virus has intermittently resurfaced.

"We will again have to cull more birds," Anisur Rahaman, West Bengal's animal resources minister said by telephone from Kolkata.

Health workers in both states said they were looking for people with flu-like symptoms. Continued...

page 2
India has not reported any human infections so far, but experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic.

Since January, poultry sales in West Bengal have fallen by about 70 percent and traders are struggling.

India reported it first outbreak in 2006 in Maharashtra.

The World Health Organization described the January outbreak in West Bengal as the worst ever in India.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=198392

Central team visits flu affected areas

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, April 6: Worried over re-emergence of Bird Flu in some districts, a team from the animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries department of Union ministry of agriculture, reached the state today to check whether proper disinfection process has been undertaken in the Bird Flu affected areas.
The team, led by animal husband commissioner, Mr Santanu Bandopadhyay, today visited Nadia, where bird flu has been confirmed two days ago, and Murshidabad.
Senior officials from the state animal resources development department said the team laid stress on carrying out proper disinfection process in the post culling period to stop reemergence of the virus.
It can be recalled that the Centre has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction over the state's lackadaisical attitude in following the guideline properly. Now, the state officials have also realised the need of proper culling and post culling operations to get rid of repeated reemergence of bird flu.
Officials also realised that transportation and trading of poultry products could not be banned thoroughly in the bird flu affected areas. This apart, awareness generating programmes have also failed to achieve the desired result and that?s why rapid response teams had faced resistance from the villagers when they went to cull chickens.
?All these factors made the bird flu situation critical in the state. But repeated reemergence of the virus made it clear that we have to follow the post culling operation mainly the disinfection process properly,? said an official.
Another official said, ?Centre?s team has expressed satisfaction over the disinfection operation carried out here. But the team asked us to be alert and follow the guideline properly.
?We are also not laying back and relax because reemergence of the virus indicated that all measures have to be undertaken properly.?

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=198391

Culling suffers as polls get priority

KRISHNAGAR, April 6: The state government employees attached to the Nadia district administration appear to be more active in panchayat election-related work instead of the culling operation following the re-emergence of avian influenza among the chickens in Ranaghat-II block.
This distraction has delayed the culling operation by one day, as the district administration faced difficulties in accumulating employees for the operation.
It has also raised questions about the seriousness of the state government employees to contain the disease, especially when rural polls are around the corner. ?Most of our employees who were engaged in the culling and mopping up operations earlier at various places in the district, are indifferent to go further in the culling operation in Ranaghat. They argued that they are now engaged in the pre-poll work and this time if they are involved in the culling operation, they would be under mental stress. They sought that only the employees of the animal resources department should handle the disease. I had to struggle hard to bring them into the operation,? Mr Onkar Singh Meena, the district magistrate said. An employee in the district collectorate office and also a member of the coordination committee (who did not wish to disclose his name) said, ?I am confused why this deadly virus resurfaced again in the district. If it happens repeatedly then how many times we will be involved in the culling operation? In January, when the bird flu hit different areas of the district, I was involved in the whole operation. I had to take Tami flu tablets. So, I was quite concerned about the disease. Currently, I am involved in various paper work of the forthcoming panchayat polls. When the district magistrate asked me to join again in the culling operation, I refused him.? Mr Santanu Bandyopadhyay, commissioner of animal husbandry, Union ministry of agriculture, said: ?I don?t know whether the Nadia district administration faced any kind of difficulties while following the action plan as we have not received any report in this regard from its side.?
Mr Meena, however, said ?The delay will not affect the operation. I personally visited the affected area after receiving the report yesterday morning and I have set up 18 teams, each comprising five members, which have already started culling operation there. All norms sent by the Centre would be followed to contain the spread of the virus. The containment process might take some time but it will be contained with the passage of time. But that does not mean we would take it lightly.?

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080407/jsp/bengal/story_9104787.jsp

Bird culling begins in Nadia
OUR CORRESPONDENT

Krishnagar, April 6: The Nadia administration today started culling poultry birds in the Gangnapur area where bird flu was confirmed yesterday.

Over 2.25 lakh birds had been culled in the district during the first outbreak of the avian influenza in January and February.

Samples from Mondalpukur village were sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal after 50 backyard chickens died last week.

District animal resource development officials said about 25,000 birds, including 3,000 chickens of a government poultry, will be culled within 5km of Mondalpukur.

Mondalpukur village is in Kalyani subdivision, which was hit by the flu the last time. Birds were culled in Haringhata, 20km from Mondalpukur, in February. Tehatta and Krishnagar subdivisions were also flu-affected.

An animal husbandry team from the Centre is expected to visit the newly affected area soon. ?Six culling teams were pressed into service today and we expect to complete culling by Tuesday,? said Arindam Chakraborty, the veterinary surgeon for Ranaghat block II. Almost 5,000 birds were culled today.

Raghunathgunj in neighbouring Murshidabad was hit by the flu in mid-March. About 70, 000 chickens had to be culled.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/07/stories/2008040754991300.htm

Culling operations begin in Nadia district

Special Correspondent

Fourth district to be hit by avian flu over the past five weeks

Kolkata: Culling operations began in West Bengal?s Nadia district on Sunday, where according to reports nearly 400 chickens have died from avian flu over the past few days. It is the fourth district, over the past five weeks, to have been hit by avian flu.

The culling operations were carried out in parts of the district that fall within a five km radius of the Mandalpukur area.

?We are a little surprised that the deaths occurred in places beyond a ten km radius of those areas to have been affected by avian flu on the earlier occasion,? Omkar Singh Meena, District Magistrate, told The Hindu over telephone from Nadia district. Blood samples of the dead poultry birds that had been sent for examining had tested positive and the district authorities had received a notification from the State?s Animal Resources Development department on Saturday for initiating steps for culling operations.

?We plan to destroy 21,000 poultry birds during culling which should be completed within three days?, Mr. Meena said.

Prior to the outbreak at Nadia, the districts partially affected by avian flu since early March were Murshidabad, Malda and Jalpaiguri.

The sale and movement of poultry birds and products in places falling within the notified area has been prohibited. The ban will last three months.

All the four districts to be hit by the disease recently were among those where the outbreak had occurred in January-February. Nearly 1.5 lakh poultry birds had then died in the affected districts ? more than half of the total number in the State.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

“We are a little surprised that the deaths occurred in places beyond a ten km radius of those areas to have been affected by avian flu on the earlier occasion,

This statement in the article above struck me as odd. Is there something such as a presumed safety zone?

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

There are always perimeter areas set up in outbreaks. Whether they are "safe" or not remains to be seen.

 

[Treyfish]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Bird flu spreads to Tripura </ARTTITLE>
8 Apr 2008, 0145 hrs IST

,

Kounteya Sinha

,

TNN
NEW DELHI: [COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]Bird [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]flu[/FONT][/color][/FONT][/color][/color]has now hit Tripura, making it the fifth state to be infected by the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus over the last three years.

The virus has killed over 3,000 birds in Tripura's Dhalai district over the past week, forcing state animal husbandry officials to send dead birds samples to Bhopal's High Security [COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]Animal [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]Disease[/FONT][/color][/FONT][/color][/color] Laboratory.

Although initial test results pointed to an H5N1 outbreak on Saturday, written confirmation from the lab was received by Union animal husbandry secretary Pradeep Kumar only on Monday evening.

The state government has set up 20 rapid response teams to start culling operations from Tuesday morning. Around 20,000 birds, mostly backyard poultry, within a five-km radius of the affected area, will be culled over the next three days.

A central team headed by director of animal husbandry and vigilance J C Biswas is in the state since Saturday preparing for control and containment operations.

This fresh outbreak comes at a time when the country is already grappling with its worst [COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]avian [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]influenza[/FONT][/color][/FONT][/color][/color] outbreak in West Bengal.

The first outbreak was reported from Maharashtra in 2006. Since then, Gujarat, Manipur and West Bengal have also reported the highly dangerous H5N1 outbreaks. However, for India, the only consolation has been that the virus has not infected a single human being.

Kumar told TOI, "One sample from Mohanpur village tested positive for H5N1. We aren't surprised as the village is just half a km from Bangladesh, which is facing the region's worst and most extensive avian influenza outbreak. While most of the poultry population in this area is backyard, two-three commercial poultry farms also exist."

However, there's some consolation for Mohanpur's poultry breeders. They will receive compensation more than what farmers received during all the four previous outbreaks.

The earlier outbreaks saw farmers receive Rs 40 per egg-laying adult [COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]chicken[/FONT][/FONT][/color][/color] and ducks, Rs 30 for those used for meat and Rs 10 per chick.

Under the new compensation package, ducks and geese will fetch Rs 75 while turkey will fetch Rs 160. The compensation amount for egg-laying chicken has been increased by Rs 10 while broilers will fetch Rs 40. "Tripura has Bangladesh on one side and Myanmar on the other. This made the state highly vulnerable. The virus could have been transmitted through smuggling of poultry birds from Bangladesh because of the porous border," a [COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif][COLOR=blue! important][FONT=Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif]health[/FONT][/FONT][/color][/color] ministry official said. Culling from Tuesday would be carried out within a radius of five km of Mohanpur and seven adjoining villages ? Billaschara, Noagaon, Mayachari, Halhuli, Harerkhola, Marachara and Kamalpur. The state government has banned movement of all vehicles to and from these villages. It has also banned the sale and consumption of poultry and poultry products in the affected and adjoining villages. The state forest department has also asked its officials to keep a watch on Tripura's 10 big water bodies where migratory birds from India and abroad are currently breeding. Dhalai is 180 kilometres north of state capital Agartala.

Meanwhile, West Bengal is finding it extremely difficult to free itself from the H5N1 virus. Nadia has become the fourth district to be re-infected. The virus was confirmed in the Ranaghat area of Nadia on Saturday. In March, Malda, Murshidabad and Jalpaiguri reported reinfection after avian influenza was first reported from the state on January 15. :tiphat:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/B...ow/2933797.cms

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

India begins culling chickens in bird flu-hit state
08 Apr 2008 07:21:02 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Biswajyoti Das
GUWAHATI, India, April 8 (Reuters) -

India began culling thousands of chickens on Tuesday and checking people for fever in remote northeastern villages on the border with Bangladesh after tests on dead poultry confirmed bird flu infections.

Around 100 health workers wearing protective suits and masks began collecting chickens and ducks from eight villages in Dhalai district in Tripura state, where 3,000 birds died in the past week.

"The state government is fully prepared to tackle the situation. There is no dearth of medicines or trained veterinary and medical staff in the affected area," said Aghore Debbarma, Tripura's Animal Resources Development Department minister.

He said at least 21 rapid-action teams were formed to carry out culling of around 20,000 birds in the affected area to prevent further spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus.

Tripura borders Bangladesh, where more than half the country's districts have been affected by the virus.

In India, the virus surfaced in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal earlier this year and appeared to have been contained by culling nearly four million birds. But the virus has intermittently flared up.

India's egg trade suffered losses of millions of rupees following the outbreak of bird flu after Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other countries banned egg imports.

Chicken sales have been largely affected in only those areas where the flu occurred, but there has been little national impact on demand.

India, home to tens of millions of farmers who keep poultry in their yards, has seen three major outbreaks of bird flu in poultry since 2006, all of which were brought under control.

No human cases have been reported in India.

Experts fear the H5N1 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 238 people in 12 countries since 2003, the World Health Organisation says.

(Editing by Alistair Scrutton)
-
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP305006.htm
-------

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37181
AVIAN INFLUENZA IN WEST BENGAL

SITUATIONAL REPORT AS ON 7-4-2008 ? NO HUMANS AFFECTED
12:0 IST

Tripura

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has notified outbreak of Avian Influenza in poultry in Block Salema [Village: Mohanpur], district Dhalai of Tripura on 7.4.2008. On getting the information of unusual poultry deaths, Central Rapid Response Team from MOHFW has reached Tripura.

MOHFW has supplied 500 Personal Protective Equipments, 200 N-95 masks, 5000 capsules of Tamiflu and 2 ventilators.

West Bengal

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has notified outbreak of Avian Influenza in poultry in Block Ranaghat II [Village : Mandalpukur, Kalitala], Nadia District of West Bengal on 4th April, 2008. Containment operations have been initiated.

Jalpaiguri

? In the earlier notified area of Jalpaiguri district active house-to-house surveillance is continuing in 0-3 Km area. A population of 29253 has been covered. 6 cases of fever/URI have been identified in the community. None of them had exposure to infected poultry.

? In 3-10 Km area, a population of 96184 has been covered. 88 cases of fever/URI have been identified in the community. None of them had exposure to infected poultry.

? 5 cases of fever/URI have reported in the hospital. None of them had exposure to infected poultry. Two cases with fever/ URI are admitted in the hospital.

? Adequate stock of Oseltamivir, personal protective equipments are available with the State/district authorities.

There is no suspect case of human avian influenza.

The situation is being monitored.

Facts may please be verified before putting out news reports in the media. Daily status reports are being web hoisted and could be accessed at www.mohfw.nic.in.

KR/SK/Avian Influenza - 302

 

[Treyfish]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Avian influenza cripples Tripura
Author: Agencies Date: 08 Apr 2008


<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width=100 align=right bgColor=#efefef border=1><TBODY><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>FEAR FACTOR: A poultry vendor sits beside chicken on sale at a local market in Agartala, Tripura, as a fresh outbreak of bird flu has been reported in the state. PIC/AFP </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Agartala: The avian influenza has extended its grip to Tripura
as samples from state?s Dhalai district tested positive with thousands of birds dying in the past two weeks, official sources said yesterday.

A red alert has been sounded by the state government to prohibit import of poultry from outside the state, including neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a 856-km-long
porous border with Tripura.

Personnel of BSF and special surveillance teams have been keeping tab in these border areas, the sources said.

Tripura was gripped by the flu scare after at least 3,000 birds, including poultry, died in three villages of Mohanpur, Malaya
and Tilagang in Kamalpur sub-division in Dhalai district bordering Bangladesh, the sources said.

Samples of the dead poultry were then sent to the high-security Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Bhopal, on Thursday. The samples tested positive according to preliminary reports received yesterday, the sources added.

An alarmed state administration has decided to cull 25,000 birds in eight gram panchayat areas which falls within five-km radius of the affected villages.:tiphat: http://www.mid-day.com/web/guest/news/national/article?_EXT_5_articleId=1078934&_EXT_5_groupId=14

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37205

AVIAN INFLUENZA IN WEST BENGAL AND TRIPURA

SITUATIONAL REPORT AS ON 8-4-2008 ? NO HUMANS AFFECTED
10:44 IST

Tripura

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has notified outbreak of Avian Influenza in poultry in Block Salema [Village: Mohanpur], district Dhalai of Tripura on 7.4.2008. On getting the information of unusual poultry deaths, Central Rapid Response Team from MOHFW has reached Tripura.

MOHFW has supplied 500 Personal Protective Equipments, 200 N-95 masks, 5000 capsules of Tamiflu and 2 ventilators.

Active house-to-house surveillance started in 0-3 Km area and a population of 1640 has been covered. No cases with fever/URI have been identified in the surveyed population.

West Bengal

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has notified outbreak of Avian Influenza in poultry in Block Ranaghat II [Village: Mandalpukur, Kalitala], Nadia District of West Bengal on 4th April 2008. Containment operations have been initiated.

Nadia

? Active house-to-house surveillance has started in 0-3 Km area. A population of 63902 has been covered. Five cases of fever/URI have been identified in the community. None of them had exposure to infected poultry.

? 145 Animal Health Workers who are involved in containment operations are under medical supervision and chemoprophylaxis

? Adequate stock of Oseltamivir, personal protective equipments are available with the State/district authorities.

Jalpaiguri

? In the earlier notified area of Jalpaiguri district active house-to-house surveillance is continuing in 0-3 Km area. A population of 29253 has been covered. 6 cases of fever/URI have been identified in the community. None of them had exposure to infected poultry.

? In 3-10 Km area, a population of 94640 has been covered. 103 cases of fever/URI have been identified in the community. None of them had exposure to infected poultry.

? 74 cases of fever/URI have reported in the hospital. None of them had exposure to infected poultry. Three cases with fever/ URI are admitted in the hospital.

? Adequate stock of Oseltamivir, personal protective equipments are available with the State/district authorities.

There is no suspect case of human avian influenza.

The situation is being monitored.

Facts may please be verified before putting out news reports in the media. Daily status reports are being web hoisted and could be accessed at www.mohfw.nic.in.

KR/SK/Avian Influenza - 303

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

[OIE - FOLLOW-UP REPORT NO. 3]
--

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, India

Information received on 08/04/2008 from Dr Pradeep Kumar, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi, India

? Summary
Report type Follow-up report No. 3
Start date 04/01/2008
Date of first confirmation of the event 15/01/2008
Report date 08/04/2008
Date submitted to OIE 09/04/2008
Reason for notification Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 02/08/2007
Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus Serotype H5N1
Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (basic), Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to a defined zone within the country
Related reports Immediate notification (15/01/2008)
Follow-up report No. 1 (09/02/2008)
Follow-up report No. 2 (28/03/2008)
Follow-up report No. 3 (08/04/2008)

? New outbreaks
* Outbreak 1 - Ranaghat II, Mandalpukur, Kalitala, Nadia, WEST BENGAL
Date of start of the outbreak 27/03/2008
Outbreak status Continuing (or date resolved not provided)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals: Species - Susceptible - Cases - Deaths - Destroyed - Slaughtered
* Birds - 22011 - 200 - 200 - 7075
Affected population backyard poultry mainly in two villages. Culling operations started on 6 April 2008.

* Outbreak 2 - Salema, Mohanpur, Dhalai, TRIPURA
Date of start of the outbreak 03/04/2008
Outbreak status Continuing (or date resolved not provided)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals: Species - Susceptible - Cases - Deaths - Destroyed - Slaughtered
*Birds - 20000 - 98 - 98 - NA - NA
Affected population backyard poultry in one village. Culling operations started on 8 April 2008.

? Summary of outbreaks
Total outbreaks: 2
Total animals affected: Species - Susceptible - Cases - Deaths - Destroyed - Slaughtered
* Birds - 42011 - 298 - 298 - 7075 ** - **

? Outbreak statistics
Species - Apparent morbidity rate - Apparent mortality rate - Apparent case fatality rate - Proportion susceptible animals lost*
* Birds - 0.71% - 0.71% - 100.00% - **
* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction and/or slaughter
** Total contains unknown quantity

? Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection Unknown or inconclusive

? Epidemiological comments
Epidemiological investigation is ongoing. Stamping out of all domestic poultry is being applied in an approximately 5-km-radius zone around the outbreaks followed by compensation of the owners. An intensive surveillance campaign has been launched in a 10-km-radius zone including:
- closure of poultry markets and prohibition on sale and transportation of poultry products in the infected zone;
- disinfection of premises after culling and sealing of premises where appropriate.
Restocking will be applied in accordance with a specific protocol.

? Control measures
Measures applied Stamping out
Quarantine
Movement control inside the country
Screening
No vaccination
No treatment of affected animals

Measures to be applied Disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s)
Dipping / Spraying

? Diagnostic test results
Laboratory name and type High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (National laboratory)
Tests and results: Species - Test - Test date - Result
* Birds - real-time PCR - 04/04/2008 - Positive
* Birds - real-time PCR - 07/04/2008 - Positive
* Birds - virus isolation - 08/04/2008 - Positive

-
http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=6951
------

 

[Treyfish]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Bird flu virus may have got entrenched in India: UN
10 Apr 2008, 0402 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha ,TNNNEW DELHI: In its gravest warning to India since bird flu first broke out in Maharashtra in 2006, the United Nations has said that the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus may have got entrenched in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India and Bangladesh.
While West Bengal is grappling with the H5N1 virus that has re-infected poultry in the four districts of Nadia, Malda, Murshidabad and Jalpaiguri, 47 of Bangladesh's 64 districts are also reeling under a similar outbreak.
Speaking to TOI from New York, UN?s influenza coordinator Dr David Nabarro said the new outbreaks in India and the continuous circulation of the virus in Bangladesh had started to worry him. He said that with high chances of the virus getting entrenched in the Gangetic plains of West Bengal, the fear of a possible human pandemic remained high.
According to him, an entrenched virus would mean a longer time to stamp it out, higher risk of continuous re-infections and a greater cost ? both financial and human ? for the infected country. Entrenched viruses not only put the host country, but also neighbouring or distant nations at permanent risk of incursion.
"In light of the continuous re-infections in West Bengal and new outbreak in Tripura, there is a serious possibility that the virus is becoming entrenched in the Gangetic delta. I am seriously concerned about it. This is not something India should take lightly," Nabarro said.

He said entrenched viruses would be a threat to the entire country and would cause sporadic outbreaks at regular intervals. It would multiply freely among poultry, keeping alive the risk of a human pandemic. Reacting to Dr Nabarro?s concerns, animal husbandry secretary Pradeep Kumar said, "We have drawn Bengal's attention to slack sanitisation operations and have told the government to immediately take remedial measures. The state has not carried out operations according to the action plan."

Dr Nabarro said control and containment operations in West Bengal are a perfect example of what can happen when the virus infects densely populated regions where people are dependent on their livestock for nourishment and earnings. "I sympathise with the state government. Culling over four million birds is a massive operation. It?s very difficult to take poultry from poor people who depend on it to live. It?s then much harder to control the outbreak and stamp out the virus," he said.

Meanwhile, India on Wednesday asked director general of FAO, Dr Jacques Diouf, to pressurise Bangladesh into stepping up control and containment operations. In Tripura, which announced an outbreak on Monday, over 19,000 poultry have been culled in the past two days by 26 rapid response teams even as fresh bird deaths in Rajnagar and Bishalgarh were reported. :tiphat: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ntrenched_in_India_UN/articleshow/2939607.cms

 

[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Bird flu alert in NE
</B>[SIZE=-1]From Our Spl Correspondent
SILIGURI, April 9 ? Handling of the bird flu cases in the north eastern states of Manipur and Tripura, besides West Bengal has left the Centre in a tizzy, with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr Ambumoni Ramadoss asking the States to wake up to the danger posed by the menace.

?I fear we may soon get a human case of the bird flu,? he said. Though the Minister was guarded in his comments, he left none in doubt that the Centre was unhappy with the handling of the bird flu. West Bengal and Manipur needs to do much more, he said.

The Minister was also critical of Bangladesh?s role and said that he was going to raise it at the meeting of WHO at Geneva. ?Bangladesh can't be a constant threat to its neighbours,? he said.

In Tripura, where bird flu cases were reported recently, he said culling of birds was on.
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[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Bird-flu: Red alert in Tripura

Agartala (PTI): The Tripura government has sounded a red alert across the state following reports of deaths of birds in two other districts besides the avian-flu hit Dhalai where culling operations continued for the third day on Thursday.
Import of poultry from outside, including neighbouring Bangladesh, has been prohibited, official sources said.
About 200 poultry and birds died in Neharnagar of Belonia sub-division of South Tripura district during the past one week, while a few crows have died at Katlamara area of Sadar sub-division of West Tripura district in the past three days.
Veterinary doctors yesterday collected samples from dead birds which would be sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal today.
Preliminary examinations conducted by state veterinary doctors could not ascertain whether the birds were affected by bird-flu. Symptoms showed that the birds might have been infected by pabrine or ranikhet disease, the sources said.
A high level meeting chaired by Commissioner of State Animal Resource Development, V Venkateswarlu yesterday decided that veterinary doctors would camp in Khowai, Sadar and Sonamura sub-divisions of West Tripura district and in Belonia sub-division of South Tripura district from today.
Altogether 25,000 birds have been culled in eight bird-flu affected gaon panchayet areas of Kamalpur subdivision of Dhalai district since April 8 when the operation started. A team of doctors from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) have examined 1500 people in the bird-flu affected areas of the district since Tuesday but not no infection was detected, the sources said.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200804101321.htm<!-- story ends -->

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080411/jsp/northeast/story_9123081.jsp

8500 birds culled in Tripura
- Rs 3.8lakh compensation distributed
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Agartala, April 10: Culling operations today continued at 16 places in Tripura?s Kamalpur subdivision, with panic gripping parts of the state over cases of bird flu.

Till 4pm today, culling teams slaughtered 8,500 chickens, ducks and pigeons.

An amount of Rs 3.8 lakh was distributed as compensation.

?This is the picture that has emerged till 4 in the afternoon but the figure may go up as the culling operations will continue till late at night,? said animal resource department director Asim Roy-Barman from Kamalpur.

More than 30,000 birds have been slaughtered and buried in the subdivision over the past three days.

?On Tuesday, we had eliminated 9,673 birds. While 12,000 were culled yesterday, 8,500 have been killed today,? said Roy-Barman, who has been camping in the subdivision over the past week.

Culling operations were carried out at 16 places in Kamalpur Nagar panchayat areas and Ganganagar panchayat today.

?We have received excellent co-operation from the people and the government and this has made our task easy,? said Roy-Barman. He added that three drop-gates have been operational at Manik Bhandar, Maracherra and Harerkhola, even as two others were removed today.

Meanwhile, the death of more than 300 birds, including crows, has sparked panic in Belonia subdivision of South Tripura, Mohanpur and Katlamara in Sadar (north) and parts of Khowai subdivision bordering Kamalpur.

?We received reports of the deaths and our doctors and technicians have fanned out to collect blood samples for testing in Bhopal. We have sent 12 samples today,? said Shishir Deb, deputy director of the animal resource department.

He said more than 100 birds have died in Sadar (north), while more than 200 birds have died in different parts of Belonia and Khowai.

?Unless the samples are tested, one cannot be sure whether the deaths are because of bird flu,? Deb said, adding that preventive measures were being taken all over the state.

The teams of animal resource development department have started spraying potassium chloride, sodium hydrogen chloride and bleaching power to safeguard the areas from infection.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Poll_fever_hits_flu_ops_in_Bengal/articleshow/2946012.cms

Poll fever hits flu ops in Bengal
12 Apr 2008, 0239 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha ,TNN

NEW DELHI: The upcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal may spell doom for the state's bird flu control and containment operations.

A central team from the department of animal husbandry, which recently returned from West Bengal, reported that culling operations had already started to suffer due to the election preparations.

Instances have been recorded of local officials found asking culling teams not to stop villagers in infected districts from repopulating poultry, and even asking them not to take away the villagers' chicken for culling.

Sources told TOI that state officials in districts like Birbhum, Burdwan, Malda and Murshidabad didn't want to intimidate villagers by taking away their birds. This, they said, would alienate their vote banks during the elections slated to be held on May 11, 14 and 18.

"Because the panchayat elections are a prelude to the general elections, the state's administrative machinery may devote all their time in it, seriously hampering bird flu containment operations. We are seriously worried because the H5N1 virus is still in circulation in the state. Over four districts have already reported reinfection. Repopulation and infiltration have already started in several districts," an official said.

The revelation comes just days after UN issued its gravest warning to India since bird flu first broke out in 2006, saying the virus may have got entrenched in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India and Bangladesh.

UN's influenza coordinator David Nabarro said an entrenched virus would mean a longer time to stamp it out, higher risk of continuous reinfections and a greater cost ? both financial and human for the infected country.

Health minister A Ramadoss, too, recently, wrote a strongly worded letter to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, over West Bengal's slack containment efforts. Ramadoss said the risk of human infection remained high in the state because of the latter's failure in controlling repopulation and reinfection.

Officials believe that smuggling of poultry, for trade, from bird flu free districts of West Bengal into the affected districts, caused the H5N1 virus to resurface in the state.

According to the avian influenza control and containment protocol, no repopulation of poultry is allowed in an infected district at least three months from the time culling teams complete disinfection operations.

 

[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Tripura bird flu: A ground report

4/12/2008 9:11:54 AM

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="41.4%" align=left border=0><COLGROUP><COL width="100%"></COLGROUP><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white" width="100%">

</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white" align=left width="100%">Tripura is the latest epicentre of the dangerous Bird flu outbreak in India
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The deadly Bird flu, which crippled West Bengal has now been detected in Tripura. But lack of coordination and awareness is only doing more damage. Times Now takes you to ground zero in Tripura's South-West districts, which is the latest epicentre of the dangerous Bird flu outbreak in India.
A panicky administration has jumped into action culling 25,000 birds in the 72 hours in Dhalai, Belonia and Katlamara. But as always the threat of the deadly virus spreading to other areas looms large and the locals blame the local authorities for this.
People are handling the infected chickens that are being culled. No one is warning the people of the dangers of this, the government is not helping. The locals may not be too off the mark. The local administrators shocked TIMES NOW's team of journalists when they instead of owning up passed the buck. AR Barman -- Director, Animal Resource Development Department, Kamlapur said, "It is not my department, we are only responsible for the animals."
This is the second big outbreak of Bird flu in India. Early in 2008, TIMES NOW took you to the neighbouring state of West Bengal where nine out of 13 districts were Bird flu affected. In the summer of 2007, Maharashtra's Nandurbar district fell prey to Bird flu.
Clearly India is confronted with a dangerous problem, that for various reasons range from administrative sloth and not to mention the lack of awareness refuses to go away. What is surprising is the lack of awareness among the people in the state despite it being one of the most literate states in the country.


http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=7161

 

[HenryN]

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Re: India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 10th +

Video

http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsId=7161