Outbreak of bird flu in Himachal, Kerala, Rajasthan
Pashudhan Praharee Network ,Jan 5, 2021
Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan on Monday confirmed bird flu to be the cause of death of hundreds of birds even as several other states, including Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, sounded alerts on the disease.
The death of migratory birds — 2,300 till Monday — in the Pong Dam reservoir area in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh was due to avian influenza, chief conservator of forests, Dharamshala, Upasana Patiyal, confirmed on Monday.
As a precaution, the state government has banned the sale, purchase and slaughter of poultry in Fatehpur, Dehra, Jawali and Indora sub-divisions of Kangra district. Export of poultry products and fish has also been stopped. The animal husbandry department staff has been directed to constitute rapid response teams to tackle the spread of the disease.
Kerala’s minister for forests, wildlife and animal husbandry K Raju said bird flu was reported in Kottayam and Alappuzha and that 12,000 ducks were killed by the disease.
Authorities have been instructed to cull all birds within a one-kilometre radius of the areas in which it was reported. This would include all types of poultry and ornamental birds. Raju said 36,000 birds will have to be culled to avoid further spread of the disease.
This is the third outbreak of bird flu in Alappuzha over the past seven years. “As per the estimate of the animal husbandry department, 34,602 birds (mainly ducks) need to be culled in Kuttanad and it will be completed in three days. These include 5,975 birds in Nedumudi, 11,250 birds in Thakazhi, 4,627 birds in Pallippad and 12,750 birds in Karuvatta,” collector A Alexander said.
Also, the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal has confirmed that the death of crows in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar was due to bird flu. The toll, mostly crows, reached 522 on Monday. Director, animal husbandry, Virendra Singh, said, “The highest number of crow deaths, 36, was reported in Jaipur. Till January 4, 391 crows have died across the state.”
Other than the state capital, two new cases were reported in Jhalawar, where crow deaths were witnessed for the first time. Deaths were reported in Kota (12), Baran (12) and Bikaner (11). In Dausa district, six deaths were recorded — two crows and four herons. Also, the death of one heron and four crows was reported in Jodhpur. “Migratory birds are the suspected to be source of this virus,” a senior animal husbandry official said.
A senior health department official told TOI, “Bird flu may transmit from birds to humans. We have directed our officials to keep a close eye on poultry farms and other areas where birds are inhabited.”
Fears of bird flu after the death of 53 birds at Bantva in Gujarat’s Junagadh, majority of them lapwings, were allayed by forest department officials who said postmortems have revealed that the birds may have died of poisoning.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh too issued an alert over an H5N8 avian influenza outbreak, which has killed 160 crows and at least two herons in Indore in the past one week.
Animal husbandry department officials in every district have been asked to be on the alert and follow SOPs to check the spread of the virus. So far, there is no evidence of transmission to poultry.
In the wake of the bird deaths in Himachal, the animal husbandry department in Punjab’s Pathankot district has begun taking preventive measures to prevent the spread of any possible infection among poultry birds from migratory birds.
Deputy director (animal husbandry), Pathankot, Ramesh Kohli, said department staff have begun collecting bird droppings and water samples from poultry farms which would be sent to Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar, to rule out any infection. There are more than 60 major poultry farms with a bird population of more than 50 to 60 lakhs in Pathankot’s Narot Jaimal Singh, Dhar, Pathankot and Sujanpur blocks, he added.
Mystery shrouds deaths of chicken as the cause remains inconclusive. In the past one week, 20 Barwala-based poultry farms have faced deaths 1.5 lakh birds. The samples picked up by the animal husbandry and dairy department have been sent for forensic examination to RDDL and the report is awaited, said deputy director Anil Banwala.
“As of now, we hope that no such deadly disease is the cause. If there had been any disease then the birds would have died within hours but here birds are dying from the past one week,” Banwala said.
Poultry farm owners have claimed that the birds have died due to drop in temperature and this is an annual affair when temperature drops below 5ºC.
Jharkhand, too, sounded an alert across all 24 districts, asking officials to keep a close watch and make necessary arrangements to tackle any situation that may arise.
Source-TOI.
