India: bird flu in poultry suspected / confirmed

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: India: bird flu in poultry suspected / confirmed

Suspected outbreak in an other state in India

300 chicken die in Tripura, general alert in State

Agartala, Aug. 3 (PTI): Following the death of about 300 chicken in a Tripura poultry, the State Government has sounded a general alert and sent blood samples of chicken to a laboratory in Madhya Pradesh to confirm whether they were victims of birdflu, officials said here Thursday.

At least 300 chicken died at Divyadoy Krishi farm at Khowai sub-division of West Tripura district in the last two days though initial tests conducted by animal scientists did not find any germ of birdflu, they said.

Samarendra Das, Assistant Director of State Animal Resource Department, said the possibility of infection of birdflu was remote because the chicken and eggs were brought in the State from West Bengal and not from any State from the North-East.

Meanwhile, the state has sounded a general alert regarding birdflu and also trained some people to tackle the disease if situation arises.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200708030360.htm

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: India: bird flu in poultry suspected / confirmed

New cases of ?unusual mortality?

NEW DELHI: Even as 3.31 lakh poultry birds were culled in bird flu-affected Manipur till Friday, two new cases of ?unusual mortality? in poultry farms in Tripura and in Mizoram have set off alarm bells. Samples have been sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal to test for the highly pathogenic H5N1.

According to Union Animal Husbandry Joint-Secretary Upma Chawdhry, clinical tests point to normal poultry diseases in Tripura and Mizoram and there was no cause for alarm. The death of 40 birds in Aurangabad also was a ?false alarm.? Maharashtra, in any case, is under strict surveillance following an outbreak of bird flu in Jalgaon last year.

Ms. Chawdhry said a flock of 500 poultry birds in a commercial farm of 3,000 died in Khoweii village in West Tripura from IBD (Infectious Bursal Disease) and Cossiodosis.

In another backyard poultry farm in Vambuck village in Mizoram, about eight km from Myanmar, a flock of 120 poultry birds have died, ostensibly from fowl-pox disease. Ms. Chawdhry said restrictions had been imposed in both the villages in the two States.

The Centre has advised the State to ensure ?safe disposal and burial? of the dead poultry. ?There should be no consumption of poultry in these areas and there should be restriction on movement of poultry.? In Manipur, the culling operation was completed on Friday with the stamping out of 3,31,606 birds and the destruction of 28,103 eggs and 25,242 kg. of feed. A compensation of Rs. 70 lakh had been paid to the affected farmers till Thursday. The compensation is expected to cross Rs. one crore.

Sources said the compensation was not to make up for the commercial cost of the culled birds but to save farmers from deprivation. For three months the farmers cannot rear poultry in the region.

Officially the culling process is over but as the Central Rapid Response Teams go about mopping up and cleaning the area, they might come across unreported poultry, sources said.

The Department said 16 Rapid Response Teams, assisted by 58 labourers and malaria workers of the Health Department were engaged in the task of cleaning and disinfection.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/04/stories/2007080462160100.htm