2 weeks ago
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A three-member team of experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reached Alappuzha to assess the situation following the outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) at Cheruthana and Edathua in the district.
The team visited bird flu hotspots and took stock of the situation. It is investigating the disease in detail, including the circumstances that led to the outbreak. The team will evaluate the public health risk of H5N1 and is assisting the Health department in taking measures and preparing management guidelines and protocols to deal with the situation.
Health officials said surveillance and preventive measures had been tightened in and around the hotspots.
Meanwhile, the Animal Husbandry department will send samples of dead birds from Muttar and Ambalappuzha North to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal for testing on Tuesday.
The decision to despatch the samples to Bhopal was taken after the tests carried out by the Avian Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Thiruvalla suspected bird flu. The results are expected by Thursday.
A farmer raising 2,300 ducks at Muttar lost over 100 waterbirds in recent days. At Ambalappuzha North, around 100 chickens of the total 650 in a poultry farm perished during the period.
The bird deaths at Muttar and Ambalappuzha North followed avian flu outbreaks at Cheruthana and Edathua last week. After the presence of the H5N1 subtype of the Influenza A virus was confirmed in ducks of three farmers at the two places, rapid response teams of the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) culled some 18,000 birds, mostly ducks, within one-km radius of bird flu hotspots on April 19.
