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**Treyfish** · January 15, 2008, 06:34 PM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

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</TD><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; WIDTH: 515px" colSpan=5><BIG><BIG>Commentary </BIG></BIG>

H5N1 Spread in Rampurhat West Bengal India

Recombinomics Commentary 22:26
January 15, 2008

The Indian government, meanwhile, said 35,525 poultry in 102 villages of Birbhum as well as 288 birds in a state-run poultry farm in Dinajpur district died in the past seven days but added the outbreak appeared to be localised.

in West Bengal, the disease, it is feared, has spread to at least 150 villages in Rampurhat subdivision of Birbhum.

The above comments indicate H5N1 has spread to over 100 villages in the Rampurhat subdivision of Birbhum (see satellite map). Media reports indicate many of the dead birds have already been eaten, raising concerns of bird flu spread to humans.

The number of villages involved suggests this outbreak may be more serious than previous outbreaks in India. Video of the outbreak shows large numbers of dead crows, raising concern of further spread by wild birds in the area.

More information on the health of villagers and extent of spread would be useful.

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http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01150804/H5N1_Rampurhat_Spread.html

**HenryN** · January 15, 2008, 07:20 PM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01160801/H5N1_Birbhum_Suspect_2.html

**AlaskaDenise** · January 15, 2008, 07:28 PM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Originally posted by niman View Post

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01...Suspect_2.html

Commentary

Suspect H5N1 Cases in Birbhum West Bengal India

Recombinomics Commentary 00:15
January 16, 2008

The slow response to the outbreak is being blamed for the spread of the disease. A large number of birds have died in Nalhati blocks 1 and 2, Muraroi 1 and 2, Rampurhat 1 and 2, and Mayureshwar. The disease has also spread to Khargram in Murshidabad, bordering Margram.

At Margram, the backyard poultry population is estimated to be around 150,000. Nearly 90 per cent of this stock is dead ? dead birds still litter the area though many have been buried.

Two children, who feasted on dead birds 10 days ago, are ill and a health team, led by the Block Medical Officer of Health, visited the Malibagan Para.

The children were identified as Anarul Sheikh (7) and Tumpa Khatun (8). Their father said ?all the birds died, we cooked and ate two of them, later the children had high fever.?

The above comments describe the continued spread of H5N1 in the Birbhum district (see satellite map). Earlier reports detailed poultry deaths in 106 villages, including 46 villages in Rampurhat I, 29 villages in Rampurhat II, and 21 villages in Nalhati I. Now dead birds are in all sub-districts and are spilling into bordering regions.

The spread is not surprising. Video of the region showed dead wild birds, including crows, as well as villagers carry dead birds with no PPEs. Moreover, many media reports indicated villagers were eating the dead birds.

Consequently, suspect cases like the two children described above are not a surprise. Birds have been dying for at least 10 days, and the spread to the government facility in Balurghat in South Dinajpur suggest more outbreaks are likely.

More information on the status of the two children cited above, and the extent of spread would be useful.

.

**HenryN** · January 15, 2008, 07:58 PM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Map of district

http://birbhum.gov.in/MAPS/BackwardVill.pdf

**HenryN** · January 15, 2008, 08:01 PM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Rampurhat-II Block (with Margram)

http://birbhum.gov.in/MAPS/soil_texture_ram2.pdf

Rampurhat-I Block

http://birbhum.gov.in/MAPS/soil_texture_ram1.pdf

Nalhati-I Block

http://birbhum.gov.in/MAPS/soil_texture_nal1.pdf

Nalhati-II Block

http://birbhum.gov.in/MAPS/soil_texture_nal2.pdf

**Treyfish** · January 15, 2008, 10:13 PM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Bengal bird flu: Culling of chickens to begin today

Prarthna Gahilote / CNN-IBN

Published on Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 02:27 in Nation section

Tags: Bird Flu, National Egg Coordination Committee , Birbhum

E-mail this report | Print this report





Almost four lakh birds will be culled in two districts in West Bengal.



NICD team in West Bengal to get a preliminary report and collect samples.




<SCRIPT type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>



Birbhum/New Delhi: It's official now, the country's third epidemic of bird flu after Manipur and Maharashtra has struck West Bengal. The Union Health Ministry has confirmed the presence of the dreaded H5N1 avian flu virus in Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts of West Bengal.

?Culling of birds will begin on Wednesday in the two districts of Dinajpur and Birbhum,? Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal confirmed.

Almost four lakh birds will be culled in the two districts with a vast majority of them in Birbhum. Meanwhile, Bengal?s Animal Husbandry Minister Anisur Rahman said that compensation will be paid to the villagers.

Even though no human beings have been infected so far, villagers have been advised to take precaution and avoid contact with the birds. A health check up of residents will also kick off on Wednesday.

Organised poultry firms say there is not much to worry about as West Bengal does not export much poultry.

?Bengal is a deficient area and a lot of eggs and products are exported to West Bengal from other parts of the country and none are imported from Bengal. Thus, the other parts of country need not worry of the bird flu spread,? Chairperson of National Egg Coordination Committee Anuradha Desai said.

Borders of the two affected districts are under watch and no bird traffic will be let through. The state's border with Bangladesh will also see increased surveillance to prevent any poultry coming in from the eastern neighbour.

(With inputs from Mrinal Sarkar in Birbhum)

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/bengal-b...y/56591-3.html

**AlaskaDenise** · January 16, 2008, 12:21 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

India tackles bird flu on war footing
(IANS)

16 January 2008

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA ? India yesterday mounted efforts to contain the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in West Bengal. The country that has successfully fought bird flu twice in recent times, put in place from today a slew of precautionary measures, including the culling of poultry.
West Bengal has been asked to seal its borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal as it mounted efforts on war footing to contain the spread of the disease.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
"The Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) has confirmed the outbreak, and we have sent 60 rapid response teams to the state for the initial ground work," said Pradip Kumar, secretary of the animal husbandry department in the ministry of agriculture.<o:p></o:p>
He said the disease was "confined to only two districts" and mostly to backyard poultry.<o:p></o:p>
Widespread death of poultry birds was reported from parts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts over the past 10 days. Thousands of backyard poultry in Birbhum region have died, prompting district authorities to sound an alert.<o:p></o:p>
"Fresh deaths of poultry have not been reported in West Bengal and due alerts have been sounded," Kumar said.<o:p></o:p>
Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said human health surveillance will start soon.<o:p></o:p>
He added that adequate manpower and medicines have been made available to the state government.<o:p></o:p>
"We have given required directions and it's up to the state government when they start the culling operation," Kumar told reporters after a joint monitoring group meeting of the agriculture ministry and health ministry in the capital.<o:p></o:p>
"So far 36,000 Tamiflu tablets have been despatched to West Bengal. We are in touch with the state government and they have drawn a contingency plan as envisaged by us," Dayal added.<o:p></o:p>
Top officials of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the department of animal husbandry had Monday rushed to the affected area.<o:p></o:p>
In Kolkata, West Bengal Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahman said: "We will start culling on Wednesday after a notification on Tuesday. We just got the confirmation but the machinery of the state health department was already in action.<o:p></o:p>
"We have reports of 20,000 birds dying in just one week. While the deaths mainly occurred in southwestern Birbhum district's Margram village area there are reports of poultry birds dying in South Dinajpur district in north Bengal too.<o:p></o:p>
?Culling would take place in both areas," he said
.

**Laidback Al** · January 16, 2008, 12:34 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Three maps --

1. General location of the three sub-divisions including Rampurhat in Birbhum District in State of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">West Bengal</st1:State></st1:place>. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
2. Close-up map of Birbhum District<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
3. Map of the 19 Blocks in Birbhum District.
Link to map of blocks in district: http://birbhum.gov.in/MAPS/District.pdf

<o:p></o:p>

**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 03:06 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Updated map

H5N1 India 2008 - Google My Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004353ecc9cb8856de8c&om=0&t=h&ll=24.647017,87.791748&spn=4.133252,6.031494&z=7

India H5N1 in 2008 and recent outbreaks in adjacent regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar

**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 04:06 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

India culls chickens, fears bird flu spread

Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:21am EST
By Bappa Majumdar

KOLKATA, India, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Veterinary workers began killing thousands of chickens in India's east as fears mounted that bird flu could have spread to a third district in the state of West Bengal.

Officials said it could take up to a week to cull about 400,000 chickens in two districts of West Bengal state where the latest outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza has been detected.

They feared the virus could have spread to a third district where dead poultry had been found. Samples from the dead birds had been sent for testing and results are expected on Wednesday.

"We hope it's not bird flu there as well," Anisur Rahaman, West Bengal's animal resources minister, told Reuters.

"Our objective is to cull up to 400,000 chickens and contain the virus from spreading at any cost."

More than 300 veterinary workers and volunteers killed the birds by breaking their necks and in some cases stuffing them in gunny sacks and burying them alive. Eggs were also destroyed.

Health workers were also monitoring people for flu symptoms.

A Reuters photographer in Margram village, the epicentre of the latest outbreak, saw worried villagers watch the culling process from a distance and help dig pits to bury the birds.

Some of them, who said they did not know about bird flu, had eaten the dead birds and were now worried about their health.

"Nobody warned us and we ate 7-8 dead birds," Asadul Islam, a poultry farmer told Reuters from Margram by phone.

In some villages, people queued up at the local health centre for a check-up.

Protection did not seem to be of much importance as many in other villages of the affected districts were seen holding dead pigeons and crows with their bare hands. At some places, people wrapped their hands in plastic bags and buried dead chickens.

This is the fourth outbreak of the H5N1 strain in Indian poultry since 2006.

West Bengal has sealed a stretch of its border with Bangladesh, which has been fighting to contain the spread of bird flu since March last year.

Bird flu has spread to another district in Bangladesh, forcing authorities to cull more than 1,500 birds, officials said on Wednesday.

With the latest outbreak, 72 farms in 23 of Bangladesh's 64 districts have been infected with the virus. (Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and David Fogarty)

reuters.com

http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSSP86240

**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 04:25 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi/Kolkata, January 15, 2008
First Published: 20:57 IST(15/1/2008)
Last Updated: 21:43 IST(15/1/2008)

India tackles bird flu outbreak on war footing

India on Tuesday mounted efforts to contain the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus - which it has successfully fought twice in recent times - in West Bengal, putting in place from Wednesday a slew of precautionary measures, including the culling of poultry.
"The Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) has confirmed the outbreak, and we have sent 60 rapid response teams to the state for the initial ground work," said Pradip Kumar, secretary of the animal husbandry department in the ministry of agriculture.
He said the disease was "confined to only two districts" and mostly to backyard poultry.
Widespread death of poultry birds was reported from parts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts over the past 10 days. Thousands of backyard poultry in Birbhum region have died, prompting district authorities to sound an alert.
"Fresh deaths of poultry have not been reported in West Bengal and due alerts have been sounded," Kumar said.
Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said human health surveillance will start soon.
Kumar, however, did not agree with a suggestion the virus had come from Myanmar and Bangladesh. "No, I cannot say that."
He added that adequate manpower and medicines have been made available to the state government.
"We have given required directions and it's up to the state government when they start the culling operation," Kumar told reporters after a joint monitoring group meeting of the agriculture ministry and health ministry in the capital.
"A detailed plan has been prepared for the culling operation. Funds are also available for the affected farmers. Fresh deaths of poultry have not been reported in West Bengal and due alerts have been sounded," Kumar said.
Dayal said: "An adequate number of masks has been given to West Bengal. In case the state needs more masks, these will be air-lifted."
"So far 36,000 Tamiflu tablets have been despatched to West Bengal. We are in touch with the state government and they have drawn a contingency plan as envisaged by us," Dayal added.
Top officials of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the department of animal husbandry had Monday rushed to the affected area.
In Kolkata, West Bengal Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahman said: "We will start culling Wednesday after a notification Tuesday. We just got the confirmation but the machinery of the state health department was already in action.
"We have reports of 20,000 birds dying in just one week. While the deaths mainly occurred in southwestern Birbhum district's Margram village area there are reports of poultry birds dying in South Dinajpur district in north Bengal too. Culling would take place in both areas," he said.
"I cannot tell you now exactly how many birds would be culled," Rahman told IANS.
"Two blocks of Birbhum district - Rampurhat I and II - are affected. In South Dinajpur bird flu was found in Balurghat area," he said.
"We will take all measures but we are urging the people of the state not to panic unnecessarily," he said.
Reports of poultry bird deaths also poured in from adjoining Murshidabad district.
Earlier, a door-to-door inspection of people with suspected symptoms of avian influenza began in Margram village Tuesday.
More than 20,000 chickens have died in Margram, about 280 km from here.
"We are sending our workers door to door in the affected region to find out if anyone was having fever above 98 degrees or having breathing trouble or is afflicted with pneumonia. After a survey and monitoring we would be able to say if there are any cases among humans (of infection)," Birbhum chief medical officer Sunil Kumar Bhowmick said.
"We will keep an eye on people who were in direct contact with the infected birds," he said.
"All chickens within a five-kilometre radius of the affected area will have to be killed. The government will compensate the owners," Birbhum District Magistrate Tapan Kumar Som said earlier.
Selling and buying chickens have been already banned in Rampurhat I and II and the Rampurhat municipal area in Birbhum.
The virus causes a type of influenza in birds that is highly contagious among them and can be deadly. It does not usually infect people unless they come in close contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces.
This is not the first time bird flu has broken out in India.
In 2006, the spread of the H5N1 virus was confirmed in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra.
Chingmeirong village of near Manipur's state capital Imphal had witnessed the bird flu outbreak in July 2007.
After the culling of a large number of birds and other preventive measures in both cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had last year declared India "free from bird flu".

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=1c16f37e-58cf-409c-b4ee-68743fc40080

**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 04:30 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Video

BBC News Player - Bird flu found in Indian state

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7190000/newsid_7190100/7190141.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 04:34 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=padlrt8 colSpan=2>India culls 400,000 chickens, fears bird flu spread 
</TD></TR><TR><TD class="georgia11 padcell8" colSpan=2><TABLE class=padl8 width=154 align=right border=0 valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD>

More than 300 veterinary workers and volunteers killed the birds by breaking their necks and in some cases stuffing them in gunny sacks and burying them alive. Eggs were also destroyed. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>CALCUTTA - Health workers on Wednesday began slaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens after an outbreak of bird flu killed more than 35,000 birds in eastern India over the last week, officials said.
The federal government confirmed on Tuesday the birds were infected with the H5 strain of bird flu, and tests were under way to determine whether it was also the dangerous N1 subtype.
Officials said it could take up to a week to cull about 400,000 chickens in two districts of West Bengal state where the latest outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza has been detected.
They feared the virus could have spread to a third district where dead poultry had been found. Samples from the dead birds had been sent for testing and results are expected on Wednesday.
'We hope it's not bird flu there as well,' said Anisur Rahaman, West Bengal's animal resources minister.
'Our objective is to cull up to 400,000 chickens and contain the virus from spreading at any cost.'
More than 300 veterinary workers and volunteers killed the birds by breaking their necks and in some cases stuffing them in gunny sacks and burying them alive. Eggs were also destroyed.
Health workers were also monitoring people for flu symptoms.
In Margram village, the epicentre of the latest outbreak, worried villagers watched the culling process from a distance and help dig pits to bury the birds.
Some of them, who said they did not know about bird flu, had eaten the dead birds and were now worried about their health.
'Nobody warned us and we ate 7-8 dead birds,' Asadul Islam, a poultry farmer said from Margram.
In some villages, people queued up at the local health centre for a check-up.
Protection did not seem to be of much importance as many in other villages of the affected districts were seen holding dead pigeons and crows with their bare hands.
At some places, people wrapped their hands in plastic bags and buried dead chickens.
No human deaths or unusual illnesses had been reported in the region, and there were no signs the disease had spread among birds in other districts, Mr Anisur Rahman said.
About 350,000 birds were being culled in affected areas in Birbhum district, 250 kilometers from the West Bengal state capital of Calcutta, and another 50,000 in south Dinajpur, 350 kilometers from Calcutta.
India confirmed an outbreak of H5N1 in western India in 2006, but declared itself bird-flu free after slaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens.
No human cases were reported. A smaller outbreak in northeastern India was contained last year.
The H5N1 virus has afflicted more than 60 countries, forcing the slaughter of hundreds of millions of birds since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.
It is now entrenched in several countries, including Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria, and has killed at least 206 people worldwide. The virus remains hard for people to catch, but experts fear it will mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds. -- AP, REUTERS

Page not found

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_196849.html

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**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 04:36 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

Culling operations begin in Birbhum

Suri (WB)(PTI): Altogether 55 teams of the West Bengal Animal Resources Development department fanned out to 105 villages under Rampurhat Blocks I and II in state's Birbhum district as culling of chicken affected with the deadly H5N1 virus began on Wednesday, official sources said.
The sub-divisional Officer, Rampurhat, P K Mondal said the teams would go house to house and visit the private poultries and collect the affected birds.
The birds would then be killed, holes dug and the carcasses buried, the SDO said, adding holes would be dug at 10 spots.
Around 35,000 to 40,000 chicken have died in Birbhum district alone.
A report from Balurghat in South Dinajpur, the other district affected by bird flu, said culling operations were yet to begin.
The culling will take place at the state run poultry farm in the district. The International border with Bangladesh has been sealed as a precautionary measure, official sources said.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200801161411.htm

**HenryN** · January 16, 2008, 04:41 AM

Re: India sounds bird flu alert after chicken deaths; H5N1 confirmed

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</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left>Joydeep Sengupta

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 (Birbhum)

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has affirmed that so far there are no reports of humans being infected with bird flu.

Bengal is reeling under a bird flu outbreak with over 35,000 birds dead in the last week.

Culling of birds in Birbhum

Earlier on Tuesday, after several delays, culling of birds has finally begun in two blocks in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

A senior team from the Union Health Ministry will reach Kolkata this evening to supervise operations to tackle and contain the bird flu outbreak.

Health ministry officials have admitted that there was a delay in sending the required protective gear to be worn by cullers and health officials in the area.

However, they confirmed that it had now been dispatched to West Bengal.

The panel estimates that it may take about a week or so to clear the area of bird flu.

Life devastates

The only source of income for the 50-year-old Murshida Bibi got devastated a month ago.

She had 33 chickens, but now, all that remains is an empty chicken pen. Robbed of her only source of income, Murshida Bibi doesn't know what to do next.

Her poultry were the first to be hit by bird flu.

And the deadly strain of the virus couldn't have struck at a worse time, the 18th of December, a couple of days before Bakrid - a time when the demand for chicken peaks in the Muslim dominated village.

''All my money is gone, bird flu has hit during the peak season,'' said Murshida Bibi.

But the state government woke up to problem quite late, only four days ago.

Samples were sent to a Bhopal laboratory, and the results that came on Tuesday, only confirmed the worst fears.

''Bird flu report positive for five blocks in Birbhum district and the government poultry farm at Balurghat in south Dinajpur district. Culling will begin from Wednesday morning, 3.5 lakh chicken will have to be culled,'' said Anisur Rehman, Minister for Animal Resources, West Bengal.

But villagers in the affected areas, are still not aware of what confronts them.

The government says it is prepared, but on the ground no effort has been made to spread awareness. The villagers don't know what precautions to take.

Some now fear they may get infected.

''The state government hasn't done anything about the problem. We have come to know that some people in the neighbouring area have fallen ill after consuming chicken,'' said Ghulam Mustafa, a villager.

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Announcement

India - Bird Flu in Poultry/Animals Jan 13 - Jan 20

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