India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 13 - Jan 20

[HenryN]

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

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

Bird flu lands poultry sector in soup








HYDERABAD: The poultry industry in Andhra Pradesh is staring at a major crisis following confirmed outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal. It?s as if the industry is hit by a double whammy of sorts. On one hand, the domestic export of eggs has plummeted to its nadir, while on the other, prices of eggs and even broiler are fast declining.
That?s not all. The cost of feed ingredients like maize and soya has registered 100 per cent increase. With no domestic export, layer poultry farm owners are faced with an unenviable task of storing eggs in their facilities. Shortage of trays has become a major challenge.
Already, the signs are ominous. ?Rate of egg has come down from Rs. 1.70 to Re. 1 each and broiler rates from Rs. 38 to Rs. 32,? feels president of Poultry Breeders Association D. Ram Reddy.
Andhra Pradesh farmers export as many as 2.5 crore eggs a day to other States, mostly north India, while the total production of eggs is around 5.5 crore per day. The break-even price per egg, including production costs, for a producer roughly is Rs. 1.50 paise per egg while the present going rate is just Re. 1.
The industry would be incurring losses to the tune of Rs. 2.75 crore per day. And this loss is only on poultry eggs.
?It took three to four months for things to stabilise after the Maharashtra bird flu outbreak. If the flu does not spread to other parts from West Bengal, it would take another two to three months for things to stabilise,? felt Mr. Reddy.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/19/stories/2008011956010100.htm

 

[AlaskaDenise]

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

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

from post #160:

.....reports of the deaths of crows and owls in certain areas.
It was later established that the deaths were normal and there was no cause for panic.....

Interesting that scavengers in the areas with dead poultry didn't die of the same disease.

.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

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

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

Update

Districts of West Bengal


Confirmed bird flu

# 5 South Dinajpur

# 7 Birbhum District

# 8 Murshidabad


Unconfirmed reports from:

# 6 Maldah

# 9 Bardhaman / Burdwan

# 12 Bankura

# 13 Hooghly

# 18 South 24-Parganas


Reported Negative

# 3 Cooch Behar

# 11 Purulia

# 10 Nadia

# 17 Kolkata / Calcutta Metropolis (crows and other wild bird deaths)


Disclaimer: the news is rather chaotic; situation can change any day or any hour; corrections are welcome.

 

[hawkeye]

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

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

Avian flu alert in Nagaland


DIMAPUR, JAN 18 (NPN): The state Veterinary & Animal Husbandry department has issued certain tips in preparedness, control, and containment of Avian influenza in view of reports of continuous multiple outbreaks of the disease (H5NI) in Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries where some human cases of H5NI have been reported.
Additional director, Vet. & AH, Dr. LS Moses in a press release said avian influenza has also affected Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts of West Bengal and therefore Nagaland too was very vulnerable as most of the birds for commercial stocks came from West Bengal.
The tips issued by the department are:
? Intensification of surveillance activities including reporting of unusual sickness/high mortality of birds to the veterinary department.
? District veterinary officers and subordinate staffs are to collect minimum of twenty samples from both commercial and backyard poultry farms representing every RD Block in the district. The collected samples are to be sent to ELSA laboratory, Kohima, on ore before 5th of every month for onward submission to Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Kolkata.
? Sealing of international border with Myanmar and avoiding illegal trade of poultry birds, its products and pigs, which could be the carrier of the disease.
? Avoiding unnecessary contact with poultry birds, droppings, and feathers. Incase of contact, hands should be washed properly.
? Symptoms of infection in human can be similar to the ?Flu? including difficulty in breathing, high fever, cold, running nose etc. In case on any suspicion, one should immediately report to medical authorities.
? To keep birds in enclosures. Safe disposal of dead/culled birds are vital steps to control the spread of the disease.
? To impart necessary training to all veterinary work force and rapid response teams in all districts in avian influenza.

 

[hawkeye]

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

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

Bird flu alert in Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 18: A bird flu alert was today sounded in the national capital with all vehicles carrying poultry from the neighbouring states being checked and the sale of chickens allowed only after the required clinical tests.

Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri held a meeting with officials of the state government, MCD, NDMC and NICD to review the state of preparedness in Delhi following the outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal.

''The Department of Animal Husbandry is keeping a strict watch on the 15 poultry farms in the capital...it is fully geared to take on any eventuality through a rapid response team,'' he said.

Dr Shastri said a state rapid response team and nine district rapid response teams had already been constituted.

The minister directed the officials to spread awareness among the public about the disease.

The officials were directed to ensure that strict vigilance continued to be maintained as per guidelines of the Delhi government in this regard.

--- UNI

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

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

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

- snip -

?What can we do if we do not have equipment.We were told to set up two isolation wards and we did that. But the required number of qualified doctors who could tackle such situations is far short of the target. We need more doctors immediately,? said Sunil Kumar Bhowmik, Chief Medical Officer of Birbhum.

At the PHC in Margram, the solitary nurse on duty and the pharmacist had no clue what to do. ?Everyday, 80 to 90 people come to the OPD with fever and cold symptoms. We have not been told what to do. So we give them medicines and tell them to go home,? said nurse Daharani Das.

Only 12 doctors are working in the affected area, which comprises various blocks of Rampurhat sub-division. The doctors spend only a few hours at the control room and are busy providing Tamiflu tablets to those engaged in culling as well as the health survey workers. None of them have visited the villages.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/263125.html

 

[hawkeye]

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

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

6 teams for surveillance against Bird Flu in Tiruchirapalli

Tiruchirapalli, Jan 18: The district administration has constituted six special teams to maintain strict surveillance on all poultry farms in the wake of the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, according to District Revenue Officer and Collector (in-charge) A Nambirajan.

He told newsperson here today that no case had, however, been detected so far in the district.

Mr Nambirajan said the special teams were conducting intensive checks at all the 16 poultry farms in the district. They would also monitor any unusual death of jungle birds.

The teams would also collect samples of the bird serum and droppings and forward them for testing regularly. Officials have insisted that these measures were only precautionary and there was little chance of the disease spreading to Tamil Nadu, he added.

He said there are 16 private poultry farms in the district and most of them were located in Thottiyam, Michaelnayakanpatti, Manachanallur and Konalai.

A district Task Force Committee, headed by the Collector was already functioning in the district to monitor the situation since the outbreak of the disease in India, a couple of years ago, Mr Nambirajan added.

He said six teams had been formed, one of them from the Animal Diseases Intelligence Unit while two others would be headed by the Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry in Tiruchirapalli and Musiri.

Meanwhile, a report from neighbouring Namakkal district, which has one of the major centres for poultry in Tamil Nadu said the 'Namakkal Egg Zone' had remained untouched by the dreaded virus all these years, including the 2006 outbreak reported in Maharashtra.

According to Namakkal District Collector G Sundaramurthy, District Task Force Committees and 20 Rapid Response Teams had been set up for close monitoring.

--- UNI

 

[hawkeye]

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

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

Siberian visitors on the fringes of flu zone
- Delhi team coming today for bird tests

Margram, (Birbhum), Jan. 18: Around 400 ?potential carriers? of the bird flu virus who come from as far away as Siberia every year continue to crowd a lake in Parulia village.

Parulia Dighi, only 5km from the flu-hit part of Mayureswar block, has traditionally been a haven for the birds who stay from the onset of winter to February.

Their occasional shrill cries amid the splashing around in search of fish broke the silence around the lake today but did not reach the animal husbandry department.

?The birds come here every winter. We love them. But no official has visited the area or told us about the dangers they pose to us,? said Bhagirath Let.

Told about how the virus could travel trough these birds, like the chickens in his backyard, Bhagirath, 55, said he was hearing about such a possibility for the first time.

An apparent lack of co-ordination among forest and animal resource development officials and the Birbhum district administration has put hundreds of villagers and their chickens at risk.

Animal resource officials said they were not aware of any migratory bird habitat here. ?Please give us the name of the area and our team will go there,? said a senior official.

Burdwan district forest officer Kalyan Kumar Ghosh, who is also in charge of Birbhum, said he had not received any instruction from the district administration.

?A team from the Centre?s wildlife wing will visit the district tomorrow,? said Ghosh.

A forest official said the migratory birds run the risk of travelling through affected areas and coming in contact with local birds in infected zones. These birds are also swimming in the Parulia lake, leaving their droppings and feathers in the water and the land around, from where the infection may spread.

Three lakes in Bolpur town are also home to about 3,000 Siberian ducks now.

The central team will coll-ect blood samples of the birds in the lakes of Bolpur and Parulia and send them for tests.

?The migratory birds will be culled if the samples test positive,? Ghosh said.

However, district magistrate Tapan Kumar Som said the administration had already decided to kill the birds. ?We?ll complete the culling operation in the villages and start the operation in these water bodies,? he said.

Forest minister Ananta Ray was unaware of the developments. ?I have not discussed this aspect with my officials.?

 

[HenryN]

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

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

from post #160:

Interesting that scavengers in the areas with dead poultry didn't die of the same disease.

.

He didn't say that the dead birds didn't die. He just said the deaths were "normal" (i.e. birds are dying all the time).

 

[HenryN]

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

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

Update

Districts of West Bengal


Confirmed bird flu

# 5 South Dinajpur

# 7 Birbhum District

# 8 Murshidabad


Unconfirmed reports from:

# 6 Maldah

# 9 Bardhaman / Burdwan

# 12 Bankura

# 13 Hooghly

# 18 South 24-Parganas


Reported Negative

# 3 Cooch Behar

# 11 Purulia

# 10 Nadia

# 17 Kolkata / Calcutta Metropolis (crows and other wild bird deaths)


Disclaimer: the news is rather chaotic; situation can change any day or any hour; corrections are welcome.

View attachment 2240

The dead birds in Calcutta were "normal deaths". There have been no reports that these birds tested negative.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

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

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

Bird flu: Tell-tale signs were ignored by authorities

19 Jan 2008, 0231 hrs IST,Someswar Boral & Monotosh Chakraborty,TNN


BOLPUR/BARUIPUR: Had tell-tale signal been reported in time, Bengal's avian flu could perhaps have been detected almost a month ago. Villagers in two districts — Birbhum and South 24 Parganas- claim that chicken were seen lying dead at least a month ago. None of the three agencies involved — health department, animal resources and gram panchayats- had any clue about what was happening in the villages.

It was only after large-scale deaths were reported did the government swung into action- culling birds. When panchayat members were informed they ignored the warnings. The animal resources department had appointed Pranibandhus (Friends of animals) in all the villages but these groups too didn't react.

In Birbum's Rampurhat, a woman from Margram village's Malipara had first reported deaths of 33 chickens in two nights to the local panchayat. Murshida Bibi who rears chickens in her backyard was told by the panchayat member to ignore the deaths.

"I remember it was on Poila Poush (15 December) seven chickens died within minutes. In the next two days, all my 33 chicken were dead. We ate some of the dead birds and the rest were thrown away," Murshida Bibi said.

The Rampurhat-II panchayat samity chief Jakir Hussain stays in Margram but wasn't aware. "The panchayat samity members are themselves not aware of the precautions. Had this been reported to the block development officer, steps would have been taken immediately," said Hussain.

In South 24 Parganas' Arjuna village on the day after Eid (December 21), a resident under Harda gram panchayat found around 30 chicken lying dead in a poultry farm. Since then, every day there have been deaths almost every day.

The South 24 Parganas district administration, however, claimed that only 150 chickens died in the village. The worst part is that like in Nadia, the villagers were eating the dead birds.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...red_by_authorities/rssarticleshow/2712584.cms

 

[HenryN]

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

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

Bird flu spreads tentacles in Bengal </ARTTITLE>
19 Jan 2008, 0226 hrs IST

,

Kounteya Sinha

,

TNN

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>NEW DELHI: The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu virus has started to spread in West Bengal. After infecting poultry in the districts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur, the virus has now been found in Murshidabad.

Initial rapid tests conducted on two samples, collected from dead poultry in Murshidabad, confirmed the presence of H5N1 virus. The samples are presently undergoing Real Time PCR tests at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) Bhopal, for final confirmation.

The virus has killed over 90,000 poultry birds in these three districts. While Birbhum recorded the highest mortality (83,541), the virus has killed 1,465 birds in South Dinajpur and 5,481 birds in Murshidabad in the past 10 days. Animal husbandry secretary Pradeep Kumar said culling, which is already underway in Birbhum and South Dinajpur, will start in Murshidabad, only after final reports arrive from HSADL.

Kumar, who agreed with the World Health Organization which described the present outbreak as the most serious yet seen in India, partly because it is spread over a large area, however, also had some good news for the state. Samples from dead birds in Purulia, Cooch Behar and Nadia have tested negative. "Fresh cases of mortality of birds were reported from South 24 Parganas and Burdhman. Samples have been sent to HSADL for testing and reports are awaited," Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry has decided not to wait till the final reports on Murshidabad arrive. A three-member team is already camping in Murshidabad to carry out micro planning of the surveillance operation, that will be conducted after an outbreak is announced.

The team conducted geographic mapping of the area (0-3 km radius and 3-10 km radius) where culling will be conducted. Houses have been divided with separate health teams in charge of various sections. Health staff are being stationed, who will carry out door-to-door surveillance along side culling to check for lower respiratory tract infection, fever and cough among locals ? usual clinical symptoms of bird flu infection in humans.

The director-general of health services, R K Shrivastava, and director of Emergency Medical Relief P Ravindran will tour the affected areas of West Bengal, starting Saturday. Sources told TOI that 700 people were found to be suffering from fever in Birbhum and South Dinajpur. However, none of them showed lower respiratory tract infection or history of exposure to poultry.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who held an emergency meeting in Kolkata with the National Disaster Mission delegation, described the situation as "very serious". Reacting to a TOI story which exposed how compensation was not being given to farmers against their birds being culled, Bhattacharya told state government officials that compensation will have to be given simultaneously while culling, without fail.

According to Kumar, 64 Rapid Response teams (RRTs) in Birbhum and 33 RRTs in South Dinajpur district, carrying out culling operations, culled 36,000 poultry and destroyed 54,000 eggs and 1,566 kg of feed till the night of January 17. Over 16 RRTs have been deployed in Murshidabad for intensive surveillance.

kounteya.sinha@timesgroup.com

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/msid-2712574,prtpage-1.cms

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

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

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

Bird flu now at Kolkata’s doorstep

Bird flu might be now at Kolkata's doorstep. After the outbreak in Birbhum, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts, deaths of more than about 400 poultry birds were reported at Mankundu in Sarisa in the outskirts of the city.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Friday that the bird flu situation in the state is alarming but there is no cause for panic. Bhattacharjee held a high-level meeting at Writers’ Buildings with central livestock commissioner Dr SK
Bandopadhyay, state health minister, Surya Kanta Mishra and other senior officers. It is learnt that the dying chickens were showing symptoms of the deadly bird flu in a private poultry farm and several other houses at Sarisa under the Diamond Harbour II block since Wednesday.

A senior official of the state animal resource development department (ARD) confirming the report said that samples of the dead chickens would be sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal on Saturday morning by air.

Soon after the getting news of the abnormal deaths of poultry birds at Sarisa, the district magistrate of South 24 Parganas held an emergency meeting with the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Diamond Harbour and ARD officials.

Speaking to the press, the chief minister said, “It has been decided that all poultry birds and other birds in the range of five to 10 kilometres from the affected areas would be culled. More than four lakh poultry birds would be culled within the next seven days. Poultry owners would not be allowed to start business in the affected areas for the next three months,” said Bhattacharjee. Till Friday, already 40,000 poultry birds were culled.

The chief minister said the state finance department has already allocated Rs three crore. “I had a discussion with Sharad Pawar and he has assured me to provide 50 per cent of the compensation money,” said Bhattacharjee.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=17e517d1-28fb-4a0e-a482-fd8551b0bae2

 

[HenryN]

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

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

Bird flu spreads tentacles in Bengal </ARTTITLE>
19 Jan 2008, 0226 hrs IST

,

Kounteya Sinha

,

TNN

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>
Kumar, who agreed with the World Health Organization which described the present outbreak as the most serious yet seen in India, partly because it is spread over a large area, however, also had some good news for the state. Samples from dead birds in Purulia, Cooch Behar and Nadia have tested negative. "Fresh cases of mortality of birds were reported from South 24 Parganas and Burdhman. Samples have been sent to HSADL for testing and reports are awaited," Kumar said.

kounteya.sinha@timesgroup.com

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/msid-2712574,prtpage-1.cms


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Results from rapid tests on South 24 Parganas and Burdhman are conspicuously absent.

 

[HenryN]

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

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

http://www.soesju.org/arsenic/wb4.htm
south 24-Pargana blocks

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

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

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

Update

Districts of West Bengal


Confirmed bird flu

# 5 South Dinajpur

# 7 Birbhum District

# 8 Murshidabad


Unconfirmed reports from:

# 6 Maldah

# 9 Bardhaman / Burdwan

# 10 Nadia

# 12 Bankura

# 13 Hooghly

# 17 Kolkata / Calcutta Metropolis (crows and other wild bird deaths and poultry)

# 18 South 24-Parganas

# 19 Purba Mednipur



Reported Negative

# 3 Cooch Behar

# 11 Purulia

# 10 Nadia


Chicken deaths spread to East Midnapore today but Birbhum, South Dinajpur and Murshidabad stayed the only three districts confirmed with bird flu. Tissue samples from Burdwan and South 24-Parganas are being investigated but Cooch Bihar, Purulia and Nadia tested negative.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080119/jsp/frontpage/story_8801519.jsp

# 10 Nadia is mentioned twice, according to the reports


Disclaimer: the news is rather chaotic; situation can change any day; corrections are welcome.

 

[Shannon Bennett]

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

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

Calling in the military.

http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytimes.com.pk%2Fdefault.asp%3Fpage%3D2008%255C01%255C19%255Cstory_19-1-2008_pg4_17

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=title3 width="50%">Daily Times - Site Edition</TD><TD class=text align=right width="50%">Saturday, January 19, 2008</TD></TR><TR><TD width="100%" bgColor=gray colSpan=2>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
India battles ‘very serious’ bird flu outbreak
KOLKATA: Health workers in eastern India battled Friday to contain a “very serious” bird flu outbreak, amid reports the virus had spread to new areas and local people were resisting a mass poultry cull.

Officials in the densely-populated state of West Bengal said chickens were still on sale despite a ban, while New Delhi called in paramilitary troops to prevent birds being smuggled out. “The situation is very, very serious in 102 villages in three districts of Birbhum, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur,” West Bengal animal resources development minister Anisur Rahaman said. “Villagers are resisting culling operations. Chickens are on sale despite a ban and reports of poultry deaths from new places keep coming,” he added.

But he said there had been no reports of human cases since the outbreak of the disease,” adding that he would visit the affected areas on Saturday. In New Delhi, a home ministry official said the paramilitary Border Security Force had been called in to stop chickens being smuggled into Bangladesh, where the virus has also broken out. But West Bengal health services director Sanchita Baksi said villagers were throwing chicken carcasses into rivers and ponds, increasing the risk of the virus spreading. “And in some areas, villagers are feasting on dead chickens and are reluctant to disclose if there are any chickens or ducks in their backyards. The cull began Wednesday after the agriculture ministry confirmed the deaths were due to the deadly H5N1 strain. The federal government has sent advisories to states neighbouring West Bengal in a bid to contain the spread of the disease. afp

 

[HenryN]

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

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

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01180804/H5N1_Suburban_Calcutta.html

 

[Siam]

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

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE TELEGRAPH (from Calcutta)
Front Page > North Bengal & Sikkim > Story
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080119/jsp/siliguri/story_8799764.jsp



Avian flu fear, 45km from outbreak site (Siam that's about 30 miles for those who don't know)
OUR CORRESPONDENT

Chicken-sellers in Jalpaiguri town try novel methods to boost sales. Picture by Biplab Basak
Balurghat, Jan. 18: More than 1,000 chicks bought from the avian flu-hit government poultry farm in Balurghat have died in Gangarampur, 45km from here, raising fears of a similar outbreak there.

An NGO, Gangarampur Block Gramodyog Samiti, had bought 1,450 chicks from the government farm on January 11 and 1,025 of them have died since. The outbreak of bird flu in Balurghat was confirmed on January 15, though chickens had been dying there from December 7.

Though the dead birds in Gangarampur have been buried, there have been no efforts to cull the 525 live chicks and 288 layers that are still housed in the NGO-run poultry farm.

The district magistrate of South Dinajpur, Swapan Kumar Chatterjee, and the deputy director of the animal resources development department, Sritanu Maity, both confirmed the deaths. “We have dispatched a team to the poultry farm and they will collect samples from there and send them to Calcutta,” the district magistrate said.

However, the secretary of the NGO, Abdul Aziz, and the poultry in-charge, Bikash Mahanto, claimed that the chicks had died because of the cold weather. “Why should we cull the rest of the birds unless we are convinced that they died of bird flu?” Mahanto asked.

“The 288 egg-laying hens are kept in a separate shed and they have not shown any symptoms. We have also not received any directives from the district administration,” said Aziz.

Maity added that no directive has been issued to cull birds in Gangarampur and nearby areas. When it was pointed out to him that the 1,450 chicks were bought from the Balurghat farm well after chickens started dying there, Maity said he would not comment until the laboratory test reports arrived from Calcutta.

In Balurghat today, more than 9,000 chickens were culled within a 5km radius of the farm, said the district magistrate.

“We have also seized more than 75,000 eggs from different shops,” Chatterjee added.

The BSF embarked on a drive today to make people in border villages aware of the deadly H5N1 virus.

“Our jawans found about 80 dead chickens lying on the Bangladesh side of the fence at Shhibrampur,” said Bhaskar Singh Rawat, the commanding officer of the 28th Battalion of the BSF.

“We have informed the district magistrate about the matter,” Rawat added.
_________________
Siam

 

[Commonground]

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

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

hat-tip aurora

Bird flu reaches another Bengal dist

Ravik Bhattacharya
Posted online: Saturday , January 19, 2008 at 01:30:59

Updated: Saturday , January 19, 2008 at 01:46:41 Margram, January 18

With reports on Friday that bird flu had spread to another district, it is becoming difficult to contain the H5N1 virus in West Bengal.

While senior health officials confirmed that H5N1 has hit Khargram in Murshidabad, the West Bengal Government got busy setting up a parallel combat team there. ?We are trying our best to control the situation. But the disease is spreading rapidly,? said Animal Resources Development Department director Dilip Das, who is coordinating the operation.

Four days after the Union Government declared the outbreak, the lack of trained men, local resistance and a bunch of unwilling health workers combined to create a deadly situation.

While the culling of domestic and poultry birds fell far short of the target again, the influx of migratory birds was posing a new threat to containment. Migratory birds in their thousands have flocked to Rampurhat, the epicenter of the outbreak this year. More are pouring in everyday. The authorities here decided to cull the migratory birds, too, but are yet to devise a way to do so.

?What can we do if we do not have equipment. We were told to set up two isolation wards and we did that. But the required number of qualified doctors who could tackle such situations is far short of the target. We need more doctors immediately,? said Sunil Kumar Bhowmik, Chief Medical Officer of Birbhum.

At the primary health centre in Margram, the solitary nurse on duty and the pharmacist had no clue what to do. ?Everyday, 80 to 90 people come to the OPD with fever and cold symptoms. We have not been told what to do. We give them medicines and tell them to go home,? said nurse Daharani Das.

Only 12 doctors are working in the affected area, which comprises various blocks of Rampurhat sub-division. The doctors spend only a few hours at the control room and are busy providing Tamiflu tablets to those engaged in culling as well as the health survey workers. None of them have visited the villages.

Meanwhile, samples sent from Purulia, Cooch Behar and Nadia tested negative. According to the Union Health Ministry, 85,006 poultry birds have been reported dead from Birbhum, South Dinajpur and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal. Fresh bird deaths have also been reported from South 24 Parganas, Burdwan and Nadia, the last two bordering the affected districts of Birbhum and Murshidabad. The samples have been sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal for further investigation. (With Teena Thacker in New Delhi)

Bird flu: A reality check

The WHO guideline specifies creation of a containment zone immediately after the outbreak is reported. A perimeter control providing treatment to suspected cases and isolation of the cases inside a quarantine area are to be ensured.

At ground zero, while the authorities planned culling in a 5-km radius with Margram as the epicentre, no steps were taken to put up perimeter control in the affected area. No check on the movement of people is being done, especially those leaving the area.

WHO specifies immediate health survey of the people
The Government has set up 50 teams of three persons each to conduct door-to-door health surveys and identify if any human being has been affected. But those carrying out the survey are mostly school dropouts and members of local youth clubs who have no medical experience. Each team was told to cover 100 houses per day, an impossible figure. The volunteers were supposed to check the medical conditions of the villagers, including fever over 38 degree Centigrade and fill up a form. They were promised Rs 120 per day, but none has been paid yet.

WHO specifies Isolation wards

Two isolation wards have been opened, one each at Rampurhat sub-divisional hospital and Bosua Block primary health centre. In Rampurhat, the beds were in a separate room, but in Bosua not even a separate room could be allotted. At both the places, only four beds were earmarked as ?isolation ward beds?. There is no specialised doctor, no equipment like ventilators, nor a quarantine zone. In Bosua Block, records showed that daily around 150 people are enrolled at the outpatients department with fever and cold symptoms.

http://tinyurl.com/25ghqh