Bird flu spread, more states on alert
NEW DELHI: At least seven states have so far confirmed cases of avian influenza, or bird flu, and close to a dozen more are confronting the spectre of the disease that has led to thousands of wild and poultry birds perishing since the last week of December, when it spread to India after wreaking havoc in Europe, China and Japan, officials said on Sunday.
While the outbreak seems to be under control in Himachal Pradesh, where close to 4,000 migratory birds have died, and in Kerala, where 20,000 ducks have perished, its spread appears to be widening in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, where bird flu has been confined mainly to the common crow.
In Haryana, hundreds of thousands birds have been culled and there were no reports of spread to new areas other than Barwala, Asia’s biggest poultry belt, with over 100 big farms where they are reared. “It is easier to control bird flu in poultry than in the wild,” said an official in the animal husbandry department of the central government, requesting anonymity. The official also blamed the states for responding late to bring the outbreak under control.
He cited the example of Haryana, where the state government was not able to confirm bird flu in poultry for as long as 26 days. It was finally at the Centre’s intervention that samples were sent to the Bhopal- based National Institute of High Security Animal Disease, which confirmed bird flu. UP was on high alert as first instances of bird flu were reported from a zoo. Two samples of fowls in Kanpur zoo tested positive for the disease, after which Central Zoo Authority issued an alert to all zoos in the country to be watchful.
Ten jungle fowls were found dead in the zoo and a decision has been taken to cull all fowls in the zoo, said a zoo official who requested anonymity, adding that the fowls had most likely been infected by migratory birds. The Bareilly-based Central Avian Research Institute ( CARI) has formed a rapid response team and issued guidelines for controlling the spread of the bird flu.
In UP’S Sonbhadra district, the administration has banned the entry of poultry from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. In MP, bird flu has been reported from 27 of the 52 districts. About 1,100 crows and wild birds have died, said an official in the state’s animal husbandry department.
Madhya Pradesh’s additional chief secretary, home, Rajesh Rajora said: “District collectors and superintendents of police have been asked to prepare an action plan to control and contain the spread of bird flu.”
Bird flu spread to MP from Rajasthan, where the death toll of crows and wild birds has risen to 2,950 with the disease spreading to 30 of 33 districts in the state. Chicken have been spared from infection in Rajasthan.