Thursday, September 29, 2011

W. Bengal: H5N1 Poultry Spreads From 2 to 13 Villages

September 20:
The directive comes after bird flu, or Avian influenza, was confirmed in two villages in Nadia district in West Bengal. Samples were forwarded to the ERDDL, Kolkata and High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL), Bhopal where they tested positive for H5 strain of avian influenza.
http://tinyurl.com/6ywmcxu

September 29:

Bird flu has struck Bengal yet again and culling of poultry birds started across 13 villages of Nadia's Tehatta I block on Tuesday.
State animal resources development minister Nure Alam Chowdhury went on a recce of the affected Tehatta I block on Tuesday. "Around 51,000 hens and ducks will be culled within a 3-km radius of the affected zone," said A K Agarwal, secretary of the ARD department, at Writers' Buildings on Tuesday. Besides culling, surveillance will continue within a 10-km radius of the affected area.
Twenty teams have been deployed for culling across the five affected panchayat areas.The hens and ducks are being buried in Lalbazar, a desolate area near the Bangladesh border. The border is being monitored to prevent the disease spreading, the minister said.


Around a month ago, there had been a scare arose in Nadia after bagfuls of chicken carcasses - which allegedly having come came from across the Bangladesh border- were seen flowing down Mathabhanga and Churni rivers. Chowdhury, however, suspects migratory birds may be behind the outbreak this time. "There is a huge waterbody in Tehatta which is flocked by migratory birds around this time of the year. They may have brought the virus."

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