The Hindu : National : 9,472 poultry birds culled in Manipur

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Saturday, Jul 28, 2007
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9,472 poultry birds culled in Manipur

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: Following the outbreak of the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) in a Manipur village near Imphal, 9,472 poultry birds were culled, 7,159 eggs and 450 kg of poultry feed destroyed within a radius of five km on Thursday. The operation continued on Friday with intensification of surveillance measures in a radius of 10 km.

Red alert has been sounded in neighbouring Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram. State authorities have intensified surveillance and imposed a ban on the import of poultry and pigs and their products from Manipur, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Close watch

In the wake of an outbreak in Pakistan, the western border States of Rajasthan and Punjab have been put on high alert. Authorities are keeping a close watch on the movement of fowls and eggs across the States.

According to the Department of Animal Husbandry here, the pace of control and containment measures had been accelerated on Friday. As against 21 Rapid Response Teams deployed on Thursday, 32 teams were pressed into service on Friday.

Twenty-two areas have been identified for culling and proper sanitisation works in the culling zone. The plan is to stamp out 1.5 lakh poultry birds in 128 backyard units around Chinmeirong village near Imphal.

There are no reports of any human infections so far.

Control operations

The Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), comprising animal husbandry and community health personnel, started the operations on Thursday after requisite health check-up by medical teams and under coverage of Tamiflu tablet. All the members of RRTs were fully equipped with personal protection equipment.

The operations were carried out as per the guidelines issued by the Central Government in identified poultry units as well as in backyard poultry units. Eight villages, four each in East and West Imphal districts, were covered on the second day.

Control Room

A Control Room has been set up in the Office of the Directorate of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Services at Imphal with the telephone number: 0385-245 0224 and Fax number: 0385-245 4928

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