Bird Flu Alert in India as Wild Bird Tests Positive for Virus

INDIA - There have been no new outbreaks of high-path H5N1 avian flu in poultry but the virus has been detected in a wild goose in the north of India.
calendar icon 18 December 2014
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The latest Follow Up Report, dated 16 December, from the Indian veterinary authority to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) records no new outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) since 28 November.

Culling of birds and cleaning and disinfection have been completed in all the outbreaks, and post-operation surveillance is on-going.

The State government of Kerala has lifted the restrictions imposed on the transportation and consumption of poultry in the wake of the avian influenza outbreak, following the successful containment of the H5NI virus in the affected areas, reports The Hindu.

The recent deaths of ducks at the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh in the north of the country has assumed a more serious dimension following preliminary tests conducted at Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory showed the presence of H5N1 bird flu virus in one of the birds.

Indian Express reports that, as a precaution, the Animal Husbandry Department confined the 90-odd ducks on the island in the middle of the lake by raising a fence, and decided to disallow morning walkers. Government hospitals in the city were alerted to get ready to deal with any situation.

Five rapid response teams of experts were formed to carry out culling of birds should subsequent tests confirm the preliminary findings.

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