The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said in a statement on Sunday that the states and UTs have been asked to increase public awareness and prevent the spread of misinformation on the avian influenza or bird flu.
New Delhi: The Centre has directed states and union territories across the country to increase surveillance around water bodies, live bird markets, zoos, and poultry farms as well as strengthen biosecurity at poultry farms amid the bird flu scare.
The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said in a statement on Sunday that the states and UTs have been asked to increase public awareness and prevent the spread of misinformation on the avian influenza or bird flu.
The states and UTs have also been requested to ensure proper disposal of animal/bird carcasses, the statement added.
After the confirmation of avian influenza in samples taken from poultry from two farms in Panchkula district of Haryana, the state had deployed nine rapid response teams and undertaken control and containment operations at both the places, the Ministry added.
Samples of crows/wild birds had confirmed avian influenza (H5) in Surat district of Gujarat as well as Sirohi district in Rajasthan. Further, reports of unusual deaths of 86 crows and 2 egrets were received from Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh.
Reports of unusual mortality of wild birds was also received from Nahan, Bilaspur and Mandi in Himachal and the samples sent to a designated laboratory for testing, the Ministry said.
Advisories have since been issued to the affected states to prevent further spread of the avian disease. So far, the disease has been confirmed from Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh.
“The test reports of samples sent to the designated laboratory from Delhi and Maharashtra are still awaited. Further, no samples have been confirmed positive for avian flu in wild birds from Balod district in Chhattisgarh,” it added.
The control and containment operation has been completed in two affected districts of Kerala and post-operational surveillance programme guidelines issued to the southern state.
The central teams formed to monitor the situation are visiting the affected areas across the country.
One of the central teams visited Kerala on January 9 and is monitoring the epicentre spots and also conducting epidemiological investigations. Another central team visited Himachal on January 10 and undertook a survey in the affected areas. IANS
New Delhi: A day after over 1,200 birds were found dead in the country with seven states confirming outbreak of avian influenza, the Centre on Sunday directed zoo managements to submit daily report to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) till their area is declared free from the disease.
The CZA, under the environment ministry, issued an office memorandum directing management of all zoos to strengthen surveillance and aviary management.
“In endemic areas, entry to aviary sections may be monitored and restricted, and all vehicles entering the zoo may be sanitised. All water bodies within the zoo should be monitored and artificial water bodies may be drained. “Bird exchange programmes (both national and international may be stopped until further notice). Entry points of migratory birds to be strictly monitored. Aviary enclosures may be disinfected and all keepers in the sections may be instructed to follow disinfection protocol and use PPE kits which may be destroyed as per standard protocols,” it said.
The CZA said avian influenza is a scheduled disease under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009, and reporting such a disease is obligatory for taking appropriate preventive measures against its spread.
“In the event of declaration of infected area within a zoo, either due to outbreak within the zoo or if the zoo is located within the surveillance zone as notified by central/state government, the officer in charge of the zoo shall submit a daily report to the office of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) till the area is declared free from avian influenza by the competent authority,” the memorandum stated.
Reporting and monitoring format in the daily report will have the name of the zoo, district, total number of bird species housed there, total number of birds in the zoo, free ranging birds (species and any other data observations as available), number of suspected cases, number of samples sent for confirmation and name of laboratory to which samples were sent.
The CZA also advised that strict hygiene protocols must be maintained in all aviaries and all droppings must be collected, disinfected and disposed of appropriately. Over 1,200 birds were found dead across the country on Saturday, including 900 in a poultry farm in Maharashtra, with the Centre saying that the outbreak of avian influenza has been reported in Uttar Pradesh, taking the total number of affected states to seven.
Besides Uttar Pradesh, the other six states where bird flu has been confirmed were Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.
The Centre on Saturday said confirmation of bird flu in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, is awaited as the samples have been sent for testing. PTI
New Delhi: After the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the country’s poultry industry, it is now reeling under the fresh threat of the bird flu infection. Due to the fear of bird flu, the sale of chicken and chicken products have been the worst-hit.
Especially in north India, the poultry industry has been badly affected by ban on the transportation of hens from one state to another. A delegation from the industry is scheduled to meet the central government on Sunday.
The cases of bird flu in poultry chickens have so far been found only in Haryana while most of them have been found in wild birds or migratory birds elsewhere and some cases have also been found in poultry ducks.
However, in the beginning of 2021, the fear of bird flu has increased so much that the demand of chickens and chicken products has decreased by more than 70 per cent, the poultry traders said. Poultry Federation of India President, Ramesh Khatri, told IANS that chicken sales had fallen by almost 70 to 80 per cent over the last three to four days, while prices had fallen by 50 per cent and egg prices had also come down by nearly 15 to 20 per cent.
Khatri said the primary reason for the falling demand for chicken is that the movement of poultry from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir has been halted from one state to another.
He said that the two farms in which the bird flu has been confirmed in Haryana are both layer farms and not broiler ones. In the layer farms, poultry farming is done for eggs, while in the broiler farms, poultry farming is done for chicken meat.
He said he would demand from the central government to save the poultry industry from rumour-mongering of bird flu.
A delegation from the poultry industry on Sunday would meet Union Minister Jitendra Singh in which Ramesh Khatri would also be present.
Poultry farm operator, Rakesh Manhas, also said he would urge the Central government that the rumours spread about bird flu causes humongous loss to the industry so measures should be taken to prevent such a situation.
The Union Animal Husbandry Ministry also said in the seven states where there were confirmed cases of bird flu on Saturday, only the reports of bird flu in poultry-chickens in Haryana has been confirmed.
In India since 2006, almost every year in winters, Avian Influenza, a common cold disease found in birds has been found somewhere or the other and the way to deal with the outbreak of this disease was made by the government in 2005, which has been implemented in the infection-affected areas.
Experts point out that the methods of eating chicken and eggs in India do not raise the question of transmitting bird flu in humans, although they say that the effort should be on not to eat infected birds.
Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Government of India, Praveen Malik, told IANS that there is no direct evidence of Avian Influenza (AI) virus being transmitted to humans by eating contaminated poultry products. He said that there is a need to maintain cleanliness and hygiene and the cooking and processing standards are also effective to prevent the spread of AI virus.
Agricultural economist and Poultry Federation of India advisor, Vijay Sardana, said the country’s poultry industry is worth nearly Rs 1.25 lakh crore, which has drastically come down to half during the corona pandemic crisis. This means the business of the poultry industry which was nearly Rs 1.25 lakh crore before the disaster of coronavirus has reduced to nearly Rs 60,000 to 70,000 crore at present.
The recovery of the poultry industry came in the last few days of 2020, which was earlier ravaged by coronavirus, but is now reeling under the threat of bird flu. IANS
Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh): The process of culling birds in and around Kanpur zoo has started after bird flu was confirmed in jungle fowls.
The zoo officials have been directed to ensure that the remaining birds are culled by Sunday evening.
District Magistrate, Alok Tiwari said an area of one kilometre around the Kanpur zoo had been declared a containment zone and the sale of chicken meat and eggs has been banned in an area of 10 kilometres.
“We have also imposed an indefinite ban on the transportation and entry of poultry products, including live birds, poultry, unprocessed poultry meat in the entire district as a precautionary measure”, the District Magistrate said.
The Kanpur zoo which was earlier shut down for 15 days, has now been closed for an indefinite period.
A zoo official, who did not wish to be named, said that culling birds was a painfulness but could not be avoided if the spread of the virus is to be checked.
It may be recalled that four birds were found dead in the zoo premises on January 6 and the samples were sent to the Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal under high security. The reports, on Saturday, confirmed the presence of H-5 strain bird flu in the dead jungle fowls.
Meanwhile, Additional District Magistrate (city), Atul Kumar, said section 144 of CrPC has been imposed to curb the further spread of bird-flu.
“We have also issued an advisory to keep a strict watch for unusual sickness or mortality in poultry birds and wild or migratory birds.” the ADM said. –IANS
New Delhi: Contrary to what some people think that the bird flu virus, also known as Avian influenza, is spread to humans via consumption of cooked poultry products, health experts on Sunday stressed that it usually does not infect people as the virus is heat-labile (degraded and killed when subjected to heat).
Avian influenza refers to the disease caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses. These viruses occur naturally among wild aquatic birds worldwide and can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species.
According to the World Health organisation (WHO), cooking of poultry (e.g. chicken, ducks and geese) at or above 70 degree Celsius so that absolutely no meat remains raw and red, is a safe measure to kill the virus in areas with outbreaks in poultry.
Richa Sareen, consultant (pulmonology) at Fortis Vasant Kunj in New Delhi, said the virus is heat-labile and it gets killed with cooking temperatures.
“At this time, people should eat fully cooked chicken and eggs and not raw or partially cooked ones. One should avoid going to open markets that sell poultry as they are the focal point of the spread,” Sareen told IANS.
“People who handle poultry should take special precautions. They should wear PPE, gloves and masks while handling birds and should practice frequent hand washing,” she added.
Although the virus causing bird flu usually does not infect people, but rare cases of human infection with these viruses have been reported, especially in individuals working with infected domestic birds.
“The possible cause of infections in humans is when they come in contact with birds with the viruses and enough viruses get into a person’s eyes, nose or mouth, or is inhaled through the excretions of birds,” said Kunal Kothari, Senior Physician, Internal Medicine, SMS Medical College in Jaipur.
“The spread of Bird Flu from one individual, who is sick to another has been very rare and data is limited, inefficient and not sustained but as a precaution, we should all be watchful of public health advisory,” Kothari added.
Bird Flu is a communicable virus among the avian population and human to human spread is not too prominent with the current strain.
However, viruses are prone to mutation, so if this virus undergoes mutation in future, it has the potential to spread from human to human and cause a pandemic.
Bird flu mostly infects the respiratory system of humans. Common symptoms are fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, muscle aches, etc.
“If severe, it can cause ARDS, multi-organ involvement and even death. The sporadic data on bird flu from the past shows very high mortality, to the tune of 60 per cent. Thus, it becomes important to take precautions now,” Sareen mentioned.
Nevertheless, maintaining distance from birds in the environment is important as the spread of the avian virus is through the saliva, faecal matter of an infected bird.
“The avian virus is airborne. Notify the community health department on seeing sick or dead birds and try not to come in direct contact with these birds without proper masks, gloves and disinfectants,” Kothari noted.
The Central government has issued a status report of avian influenza in the country, saying the disease has been confirmed in seven states.
The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) has issued an advisory to the affected states so as to avoid further spread of disease. IANS
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