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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>Bird flu graver than ever: Expert
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>OUR BUREAU</TD></TR><TR><TD class=story align=left><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=172 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Jan. 17: The bird flu outbreak in Bengal is the most serious the country has seen and threatens to mirror the prolonged crisis faced by Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam, experts and the World Health Organisation warned today.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Two factors make Bengal more favourable for fast spread of the H5N1 virus than the four other states affected in the past two years, an expert said.
One, Bengal has more water bodies and marshland than Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh or Manipur. Two, its dense poultry population.
?Ducks and waterfowl in these water bodies might serve as virus carriers,? the expert said. The fear is that waterfowl will pick up the virus from infected poultry and transmit it to more poultry.
?This is one factor behind the persistence of the virus in Thailand and Vietnam,? the expert said. Bangladesh, as swampy a country as any, has reported 64 outbreaks in the past one year.
An official in Delhi said Bengal had a higher density of poultry than the other four states. ?The human population density is also higher.?
The WHO added two more reasons. ?More serious risk factors are associated with this current outbreak than previously encountered, including that the affected areas are more widespread and (close to) border areas,? PTI quoted it as saying.
Burwan in Murshidabad and Nanoor in Birbhum joined the list of affected areas today, taking the count of confirmed bird flu-hit districts to three (see chart). Over 61,000 poultry birds have died in these districts.
The WHO stressed ?public information and education?, but villagers seemed unaware of the risk in worst-hit Birbhum, where the disease has been confirmed in eight blocks and deaths reported in two more, Bolpur and Luvpur.
?Thousands are in danger?. They are handling and eating diseased and dead chicken,? said Bengal animal resource development director Dilip Das.
At Majharipara in Mayureswar I, villagers had dumped dead chicken in a field where children played with their feathers, putting them inside their mouths. Badal Tadu, an adult, was cooking a dead hen because ?I was given it free?. Jiten Led was dressing another with bare hands: ?We?ll have it for dinner tonight.?
?Although 85 per cent of the birds have died here, there has been no awareness camp,? said Jamir Ali. ?Health officials passed through the village twice but spoke to no one.?
Authorities have warned people not to handle sick or dead poultry with bare hands.
The culling teams achieved only 60 per cent of the day?s target of 25,000, suggesting the current overall target of 3.31 lakh would take over 20 days. But a central official said Bengal had promised to finish the job in five-six days.
Bengal animal resource minister Anisur Rahman denied reports that the state had woken up late to the outbreak. He blamed the Centre, saying it had ?a couple of months ago? announced that India was free of bird flu.
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
India Investigates Deaths Of Hundreds Of Birds
Government health officials in India are investigating hundreds of bird deaths in the eastern part of the country to determine if a recent bird flu outbreak that killed 54,000 birds has spread to new areas of the country.
The dead birds were found yesterday in four districts of West Bengal state, causing officials to issue new areas under watch for the H5N1 bird flu virus. These include Nadia, Murshidabad, Burdwan and South 24 Parganas districts in West Bengal state.
Anisur Rahman, state minister of animal husbandry, told Associated Press the symptoms in the new bird deaths did not indicate the deaths were caused by bird flu, but rather by a virus called Ranikhet, a fatal and contagious disease found in local birds. The Ranikhet virus has no history of affecting humans.
?But we are not taking chances and have sent samples to laboratories for testing for bird flu,? he said.
No human deaths or suspicious illnesses have been reported in the region where the dead birds were found.
Authorities began culling chickens yesterday, after India confirmed that birds in the two West Bengal districts had the H5 virus. The government is working to confirm whether or not it was of the dangerous N1 strain. Approximately 400,000 chickens in the affected area are being slaughtered, and officials are also going door-to-door looking for people with symptoms of H5N1 bird flu, including fevers and respiratory symptoms.
Although the virus is hard to contract in humans, scientists worry it may mutate into a form that is easily transmitted among people. Such a mutation could potentially spark a pandemic. To date, most human cases of bird flu have been linked with direct contact with infected birds.
In 2006 an outbreak of H5N1 struck the western part of the country, but after hundreds of thousands of chickens were slaughtered India declared the country free of the bird flu. No human cases were reported in the outbreak. A smaller outbreak occurred in the Northeastern part of the country that was also contained.
Bird flu has been found in over 60 countries, and is entrenched in several countries such as Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria. The World Health Organization reports that over 200 human deaths from the disease have occurred worldwide.
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Bengal bird flu source lies in Bangladesh
Siliguri, January 18, 2008
First Published: 02:50 IST(18/1/2008)
Last Updated: 02:52 IST(18/1/2008)
Bangladesh has been identified as the source of outbreak of bird flu in south Dinajpur, one of the two affected districts in West Bengal, a senior Animal Husbandry official said.
?The germs were brought by winds blowing from Bangladesh,? Assistant Commissioner of the Central Animal Husbandry Department Sujit Dutta said in Balurghat, the headquarters of south Dinajpur.
Dutta said that the Centre is constantly monitoring the situation in the district. The BSF guarding the Indo-Bangla border in the district has been alerted to ensure that no poultry products could enter from Bangladesh, said Inspector General of Police R.J.S. Nalwa.
However, there are reports on Thursday of spreading of the dreaded bird flu virus among chickens to new areas of Birbhum and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal.
Considering the serious implication of the situation, the Union Health Ministry has directed the West Bengal government to adopt quarantine measures to prevent transport of people, animals and birds from the bird flu-hit areas of Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts.
The West Bengal government has set a target of culling 3.76 lakh birds. Many poultry owners in Birbhum had sent their birds for sale outside the affected area despite there being a ban on movement of poultry, reports from the districts said.
Meanwhile, P Krishnan, heading a high-level delegation of the Union Health Ministry, said: ?There is no cause for panic as the deadly virus has not infected any human as yet.?
Assam on high alert
Alarmed by the outbreak of bird flu in neighbouring West Bengal, a health alert on avian flu has been sounded in all the bordering districts of Assam to prevent the spread of the disease in the state.
The alert was sounded in Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara and Bongaigaon districts after a confirmation about the outbreak of birdflu in West Bengal, a senior official of the animal husbandry and veterinary department said.
WHO: outbreak is serious
The dreaded H5N1 bird flu virus is more infectious than previously thought, said World Health Organisation experts in The New England Journal of Medicine, creating worldwide panic. It can travel by sticking to surfaces, get kicked up in dust and feed to infect people, or contaminate ponds and lakes used for swimming or bathing, says the report.
Army in East bans chicken
The bird flu outbreak across West Bengal compelled the army on Thursday to order a ban on the supply of chicken to troops in the state to rule out the possibility of soldiers getting infected by the virus.
Lieutenant General Narayan Mohanty, Director General, Remount Veterinary Services, told the Hindustan Times, ?We do not want to take any chances with the health of troops. Instructions have been issued to the Eastern Command to ban chicken.?
(With inputs from PTI)Comment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
CommentaryOriginally posted by niman View Post
Suspect H5N1 Wild Bird Deaths Along Indian Bangladesh Border
Recombinomics Commentary 23:50
January 16, 2008
Crows and hawks dying with bird flu symptoms in some areas of the bird flu-hit districts of Birbhum, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur have raised fears that the killer disease may spread to other districts, even Kolkata.
The above comments indicate dead wild birds are associated with the outbreak in South Dinajpur. Initial reports of the outbreak in Birbhum mentioned dead crows, eagles and pigeons. Video of the outbreak showed large numbers of dead crows, raising concerns that sealing the border with Bangladesh would do little to halt the spread of H5N1.
H5N1 is highly suspected in the outbreak in adjacent Murshidabad (see satellite map), and dead crows were also linked to that outbreak. Moreover, although the border has been sealed, new reports of H5N1 outbreaks in adjacent regions on both sides of the border continue to be reported. The outbreak in South Dinajpur was followed by an outbreak across the border in Rajshahi.
Similarly, the outbreak in Birbhum was followed by an outbreak in Jessore.
On the West Bengal side of the border, excessive bird deaths have been reported in multiple districts to the south, which could also be linked to infections in resident birds.
India?s history of detection of H5N1 in wild birds has been poor. H5N1 infected long range migratory birds have been detected at Qinghai Lake in 2005 and 2006. Birds from Qinghai Lake winter on the northern plains of India, yet not H5N1 has been reported, even though poultry workers had H5 antibodies long before H5N1 infections in India were reported.
The outbreak in domestic poultry also appears to have been missed at its early stages. The OIE report indicates the outbreak started January 4, 2008, but local villagers said domestic poultry began to die on December 18.2007.
Now the H5N1 appears to have reach critical mass, and is rapidly spreading along the length of the Indian / Bangladesh border.
."The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller FoundationComment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
AVIAN INFLUENZA (14): INDIA (WEST BENGAL)
*******************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Thu 17 Jan 2008
Source: NDTV Com [edited]
<http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080038759>
The dreaded bird flu has spread to new areas of Birbhum and
Murshidabad districts of West Bengal, even as culling of the birds in
places affected by the disease continued at a slow pace.
An alert was sounded in neighbouring Bihar and Assam.
Amid the alarm bells, the Centre asked the West Bengal government to
take immediate corrective steps to stop the spread of the disease.
"We have asked the West Bengal government to take corrective action
in every city and village," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told
reporters in Delhi.
The minister claimed that there was no major impact on the market.
The Health Ministry asked the state to adopt quarantine measures to
prevent transport of people, animals and birds from the bird-flu-hit
areas of Birbhum and south Dinajpur.
The fallout was felt in neighbouring Bhutan, which banned import of
poultry and poultry products from India for an indefinite period. The
ban came into effect on Wednesday [16 Jan 2008].
Bangladesh has been identified as the source of the outbreak of bird
flu in south Dinajpur, one of the 2 affected districts in West
Bengal, a senior Animal Husbandry official said.
"The germs were brought by winds blowing from Bangladesh," Assistant
Commissioner of the Central Animal Husbandry department Sujit Dutta
said in Balurghat, the headquarters of south Dinajpur [HPAI virus
introduction by winds, though not impossible, seems rather remote;
more likely, the virus might have spread by infected animals or
contaminated humans, utensils or animal feed. Such breaches of
biosecurity call for enhanced control measures. - Mod.AS].
Dutta said that the Centre is constantly monitoring the situation in
the district.
The BSF guarding the Indo-Bangla border in the district has been
alerted to ensure that no poultry products could enter from
Bangladesh, Inspector General of Police (North Bengal) R J S Nalwa said.
The administration of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district has
decided to immediately stop import of chickens, chicks and eggs to
Siliguri from outside and continue checks for sick birds, SDO Smita
Pandey said.
Culling operations continue for the 2nd day on Thursday [17 Jan 2008]
in Bengal. Close to 9000 birds were culled on Wednesday [16 Jan 2008]
by the Rapid Response Teams in the core districts of Birbhum and Dinajpur.
The impact of the bird flu scare has spread far beyond the state
capital Kolkata. They have a target of culling 3.5 lakh [350 000]
birds in the next 10 days.
Chicken has been taken off the menu on all flights leaving Kolkata.
The capital is on guard, with the government doing whatever it can to
make sure there is no spread of infection, but Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit has said there is no need to panic.
Ghazipur Mandi in East Delhi is the largest wholesale poultry market
in the city. And with the bird flu scare in the air, efforts are on
to make sure there is no infection here. Five veterinary experts have
been put on duty to certify all chicken as fit for sale.
The government claims to be taking all precautionary steps to prevent
the virus from entering Delhi and that they are being supported by
traders and shopkeepers who suffered severe losses 2 years back when
the bird flu scare hit the capital.
''As a precaution, we have got the powders and spray for the
cullination of chicken so that it is not used by anyone. This all is
being done in the supervision of our doctors. You can see, we are
already on the site. We will help people in any which way,'' said
Babu Khan Salmani, Health Official, Delhi Government.
The government has issued a set of do's and don'ts to shopkeepers
selling poultry products and also warned of surprise checks.
[Byline: Deepti Sachdeva]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall
[On 15 Jan 2008, India submitted to the OIE an official "immediate
notification" on the outbreaks. See
<http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=6678>.
- Mod.AS]
[see also:
Avian influenza (11): India (West Bengal) 20080115.0193
2007
----
Avian influenza, human (117): India (Manipur), NOT 20070804.2530
Avian influenza, human (115): India (Manipur), susp., RFI 20070801.2487
Avian influenza (133): India (Manipur): conf., OIE 20070726.2409
Avian influenza (131): India (Manipur), RFI 20070718.2303
Avian influenza (87): Nigeria, India (RFI), Pakistan 20070526.1680
vian influenza (80): India (West Bengal), susp 20070508.1485
Avian influenza (58): Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia 20070322.1008
Avian influenza, human (168): Indonesia, Greece (ex India), susp 20061020.3017
2006
----
Avian influenza, human, worldwide (54): China, India 20060427.1228
Avian influenza, human, worldwide (53): India, susp 20060426.1210
Avian influenza - worldwide (78): Germany, P.A., India 20060405.1018
Avian influenza, human - worldwide (13): India, Malaysia, Nigeria 20060222.0575
Avian influenza, human - worldwide (12): Egypt, India 20060221.0566
Avian influenza - worldwide (26): Egypt, India, OIE 20060220.0562
2005
----
Avian influenza, H5N1, 2002 - India (Tamil Nadu): RFI 20050513.1312]
.................................................. arn/msp/dkComment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Wings work.Originally posted by niman View PostComment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
And blowing winds are a breach of biosecurity. !
."The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller FoundationComment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Crows tend to roam around, visit places they know they can find food.Originally posted by AlaskaDenise View Post
If dead crows are found somewhere, it could mean the ate something elsewhere.
If the crows die at places where people come, they can be more easily found and/or they get more attention? May be more dead crows on other places, and no one bothers or not found?Comment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
We have lots of crows and Ravens here. They tend to congregate near restaurant garbage bins, various food producers, and dying large wild animals. Most that I've seen tend to consume their food at or near where it's found.
BTW - the Raven is a revered bird in native culture. They are one smart bird.
."The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller FoundationComment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Kolkata: Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today described the bird flu outbreak in the state as "alarming", even as panic gripped Kolkata following the death of some birds in the city.
Amid reports of slow pace of culling operations in Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts, the chief minister said the state government had set a target of culling four lakh poultry in the affected areas.
The Rampurhat sub-division of Birbhum district was the worst affected, followed by Balurghat in West Dinajpur district, he said.
Bhattacharjee said it had been decided that poultry in the 5-10 km radius of the affected areas would be culled and the process would be completed within seven days.
Dead birds --- crows and owls --- were found in Kolkata's southern and eastern parts today causing fresh fears as a civic team moved around the metropolis to collect bird carcasses.
"We will tell the state health department to assess whether the deaths are unusual," a Kolkata civic department official said. Shopkeepers had downed the shutters yesterday following reports of death of caged birds.
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Bird flu outbreak alarming: West Bengal CM
CNN-IBN
Published on Fri, Jan 18, 2008 at 16:28 in Nation section
Tags: Bird Flu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee , Kolkata
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TAKING A STEP: Bhattacharjee said it would take a week for culling operations to end. <SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--google_ad_client = "pub-2140165247056050";google_ad_width = 250;google_ad_height = 250;google_ad_format = "250x250_as";google_ad_type = "text";//2007-09-17: IBNLive_news_article_pagegoogle_ad_channel = "5307426502";google_color_border = "FFFFFF";google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";google_color_link = "CA0405";google_color_text = "000000";google_color_url = "000000";google_ui_features = "rc:6";//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has admitted that the bird flu situation in the state is alarming and said that the compensation has not reached the people whose chickens were culled.
"It is alarming but not yet a reason to panic," Bhattacharjee said.
"We not started giving them compensation. So they are anxious whether they will at all get the compensation. But as I have already told you that we have sanctioned Rs 3 crore. A minister is going there and he himself will hand over the check," he added.
After an emergency meeting in Kolkata on Friday, Bhattacharjee said it would take a week for culling operations to end.
He said no case of human infection had been reported yet. The CM said the government would start culling in any area that reported chicken deaths.
The Union Health Ministry has already admitted that there is a lack of awareness about the virus in West Bengal. It has asked for more warnings to be put out in print, on TV and radio.
Even World Health Organisation has expressed concern over the fast-spreading bird flu virus and demanded stringent action.
Poultry is being culled in Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts over the last two days to control the spread of the virus.
Bird flu has already spread to a few more districts of the state after it was reported from the districts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur.
But it is tough to convince people on the ground that culling needs to be done and that too quickly.
After two days of culling operations in Birbhum, the toughest job for health officials is convincing locals that they have to let the birds be killed to prevent bird flu from spreading.
Comment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Bengal To Step Up Culling To Combat Bird Flu (Lead)
Friday 18th of January 2008
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Friday said the state government would slaughter all poultry birds in areas reporting fresh cases of avian flu even before laboratories confirm the H5N1 strain, after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the current outbreak was the most serious in the country yet.
'So far we have been able to kill 40,000 birds. In the next seven days we will kill all birds (an estimated 400,000) by increasing the number of health and animal resource development (ARD) workers,' Bhattacharya told reporters here.
'Our worst affected areas are Rampurhat subdivision in Birbhum district and Balurghat in South Dinajpur, where deaths occurred in government farms.
'But there are reports from Khargram and Baroa in Murshidabad besides Nadia and Burdwan. So we have decided to kill all birds in the new areas even before confirmation from the laboratories,' Bhattacharya said.
'Wherever we will hear of new infections, we will kill birds. There are at the moment sixty teams comprising five workers each. We will increase the manpower,' he said at state secretariat Writers' Building.
There were reports of fresh bird flu cases in West Bengal Friday as the culling operation proceeded at a sluggish pace at best and WHO warned the outbreak was the worst seen in the country.
Adding to the panic were reports of crows falling dead in Murshidabad district where the avian flu is feared to have spread.
Three days after bird flu was confirmed in the state, the chief minister held an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the situation. Central health ministry officials were also present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, according to reports from districts, the culling operation was ham handed with blood soaked gunny bags stuffed with dead chicken found in drains in Rampurhat area of Birbhum.
Members of the Rapid Response Teams carrying out the culling had allegedly left the bags behind.
As panic about the bird flu spread, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials toured the city's markets and assured people that the chicken being sold was absolutely safe for consumption.
'We have found nothing negative. They are absolutely safe,' KMC chief medical officer Debdwaipayan Chatterjee said.
The H5N1 virus causes a type of influenza in birds that is highly contagious and can be deadly. It does not usually infect people unless they come in close contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces.
."The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller FoundationComment
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
Panic in Ludhiana over bird flu
January 18th, 2008 - 8:11 pm ICT by admin <!-- Email to friend -->
Kolkata /Ludhiana, Jan 18 (ANI): The bird flu outbreak in West Bengal has hit [COLOR=#2153aa! important][COLOR=#2153aa! important]poultry[/COLOR][/COLOR] traders in the northern parts of the country, and eggs and broiler chicken are being sold at throwaway prices.
The fear of the humans getting infected by the avian influenza has pushed down the sales of poultry products in Punjab.
The poultry owners are forced to sell eggs at extremely low prices. However, this has increased the demand for chicken.
?The prices of broiler have fallen to Rs 20 per kilogram for the last three to four days and due to the rumours spread by traders. However, Punjab is a very safe area in context of bird flu. But due to rumours the poultry farming is getting affected,? said Gurudev Singh, a poultry farm owner.
Putting to rest the rumours, officials said Punjab doesn?t need to be scared of the disease because of the organised poultry operations in the State.
The birds are given proper vaccination at regular intervals and in case of doubt, samples are sent to laboratories to check any outbreak of the [COLOR=#2153aa! important][COLOR=#2153aa! important]virus[/COLOR][/COLOR], officials said.
Meanwhile, panic has gripped poultry owners in West Bengal as they incur huge losses due to culling of thousands of poultry to contain the spread of bird flu.
Poultry owners in Margram village say their businesses have been severely hit due to the disease.
?All our poultry farms are closed. We are not getting any orders from the markets. We used to earn a lot of money by doing this business, but now that earning has stopped. Poultry farms are not running anymore. My whole earning was completely dependant on the poultry farms,? said Suchitra Ghosh, a poultry owner.
Ghosh added that though the government has announced compensation package for the affected poultry owners, it is not enough to cover their losses.
The village poultry owners estimate their losses to be about Rs. four million.
Many poor villagers foresee an uncertain future if the disease spreads.
?We are feeling scared. If the disease spreads to our area, we would be hit hard,? said Soumitra Mondal, another poultry owner.
Meanwhile, the Border [COLOR=#2153aa! important][COLOR=#2153aa! important]Security[/COLOR][/COLOR] Force has alerted its units in all border districts like South and North 24 Parganas, Maldah and Murshidabad, to keep a strict vigil on the people crossing from Bangladesh and all their goods and bags are being checked meticulously.
West Bengal has sealed a stretch of its border with Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been fighting to contain the spread of bird flu since March last year.
This is the fourth outbreak of the H5N1 strain in Indian poultry since 2006. (ANI)
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Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed
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