Re: Nepal - bird flu in poultry/animals/wild birds
Source:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=178666
Govt tightens bird flu watch
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 4 - With the aim of declaring ?Bird Flu Free Area? after 90 days of bird flu outbreak in the 10 km area from Kakarbhitta, the entry point of Eastern Nepal, the government has intensified surveillance from Tuesday.
Nepal government announced the first outbreak of bird flu in the country on January 16 and declared emergency in areas that lie within a radius of ten kilometres from the quarantine office in Kakarbhitta of Jhapa district.
The Department of Livestock Services has deployed three mobile surveillance teams in the ten-kilometre area.
On the initiative of Department of Livestock Services and Avian Influenza control project under the Health Ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs, the government has brought bird flu in the region under control.
According to International Health Regulations 2005, no remnant of bird flu virus should be seen in the area within 90 days of the outbreak.
?Experts involved in the first phase of the operation are now under medical supervision and till now they have not shown any symptom,? said Director at Animal Health Directorate Dr. Baikuntha Parajuli.
The government had sent 13 Rapid Response teams with 65 experts to the area on Jan. 18 to cull infected birds. Experts culled some 25,000 chicken in the area within two weeks.
The experts will leave but the surveillance team will actively monitor if operations in the region have been successful. ?We will launch the second phase of the operation, which includes rehabilitation of poultry farmers and others as soon as we finish field investigation.?
A team of surveillance experts headed by Parajuli will take charge from tomorrow.
Even though no case of bird flu has been reported in humans so far, the Ministry of Health is not taking chances.
?It has been controlled so far but we have intensified active and passive surveillance among the public,? said Dr. Manas Banerjee, coordinator-director at the Avian Influenza Control Project under the Ministry of Health. The active surveillance team will visit patients if suspected cases are reported while the medical team is in the district and Zonal hospitals will closely monitor suspect cases.
Posted on: 2009-02-03 20:44:47 (Server Time)