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Rajasthan bid to counter bird flu threat

Special Correspondent

Confirmed cases in Pakistan send alarm bells ringing in the State

JAIPUR: With Pakistan having confirmed at least three cases of H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Administration in the border district of Barmer in Rajasthan on Saturday launched emergency steps for surveillance of fowls and prevention of infection by the deadly virus. Surveillance teams have started collecting blood samples at random in poultry farms across the district.

While two cases of bird flu virus in small flocks of chickens and peacocks were reported in Rawalpindi and Mansehra towns of Pakistan earlier this week, the health authorities confirmed the third case in Islamabad on Saturday, after samples from dead chickens tested positive.

Barmer Collector Subir Kumar said the surveillance teams would comprise 35 veterinary doctors and over 100 assistants, who would visit all poultry farms and submit their reports to the Deputy Director of the Animal Husbandry Department on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Kumar issued instructions in this regard to the Chief Medical and Health Officer.

Mr. Kumar said that besides handing over the charge of five panchayats each to the surveillance teams, special police posts had been established at the district's entry points in Gandhav, Shiv and Kalyanpur and arrangements made for intensive checking as a precautionary measure.

The Collector said the Administration would not allow entry of chickens from other districts and States into Barmer until the threat of bird flu was over. Any vehicle carrying flocks of fowls would be stopped at the border of the district and inspected by the surveillance teams.

Barmer district shares a significant portion of the 1,000-km-long border of Rajasthan with Pakistan. Munabao railway station, which is the connecting point for the temporarily suspended Thar Express train linking Jodhpur with Karachi, is situated in Barmer district.

The H5N1 virus during its spread in 11 countries last year had led to widespread fears that it could mutate into a strain easily affecting the people and trigger an epidemic.

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Rajasthan bid to counter bird flu threat

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