An outbreak of Newcastle disease in a poultry farm in Yoseltse Geog in Samtse has left several chickens dead, reports Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS). All deaths occurred in one single poultry farm, which belong to Unishe Sharma in Suntalbari village. She lost more than 80 chickens.

This is a huge loss for her as her business was just proving to be lucrative. She started her business about nine months ago with 150 chickens.

Unishe Sharma had just about 618 day-old chickens from Sarpang last month. Of that, 300 were supplied to the Dzongkhag Livestock Sector. Meanwhile, Geog and Dzongkhag Livestock officials have visited the poultry farm and conducted field test and post mortem for the dead chickens.

Results showed that the birds died of Newcastle disease, a highly contagious viral disease affecting poultry.

Livestock official say birds with Newcastle disease show symptoms with greenish diarrhoea and drowsiness. They also tend to be thirsty.

Samples have been sent to the National Centre for Animal health in Thimphu for further investigation, reports BBS.

Currently, the livestock officials are providing antibiotics for the remaining infected birds in the poultry farm. They will also be carrying out vaccination to prevent further spread of the disease.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on Newcastle disease by clicking here.