India - Bird Flu in POULTRY/ANIMALS Feb 5th - 10th 2008

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02...tta_Panic.html

[Treyfish]

Commentary

Dead Crows Cause Panic in Calcutta

Recombinomics Commentary 22:02
February 23, 2008

On Saturday, the residents of Chetla were shocked to see dead crows lying all around. While most of them were already dead, some died later.

"I saw the birds drooling and flapping their wings before collapsing," a local said. Soon crows started falling down from the trees.

"Crows are carriers of bird flu but rarely die because of it. However, we might send the samples to Bhopal for confirmation," state animal resources development minister, Anisur Rehman said.

The above comments on dead crows falling from trees sound remarkably similar to reports in multiple cities in Bangladesh, where H5N1 has been confirmed in dead crows. There are also a number of public H5N1 sequences from crows in Asia and Africa, including clade 2.2, which has been reported in India and Pakistan.

Chelta is in the heart of Calcutta (see satellite maps here here here) and positive birds would serious damage claims of control in West Bengal.

The above statement about crows rarely dying from H5N1 is false, although India has yet to report H5N1 in any wild birds, including dead crows collected in areas where H5N1 has been confirmed in poultry.

The reasons behind the denials of H5N1 in wild birds are unclear, but India's track record is not.

H5N1 is in crows in India and Bangladesh, official comments or reports from India notwithstanding.

The H5N1 in wild birds in the region also cast serious doubt about claims that H5N1 infections in India has been limited to West Bengal, or claims of elimination of H5N1 from West Bengal.
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02...tta_Panic.html

[HenryN]

Flu scare in fowl death

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Two dead fowls at the chicken rearing centre in Bokaro. Picture by Pankaj Singh Bokaro, Feb. 24: Following the death of 86 birds at a chicken rearing centre here today, the area has been cordoned off fearing bird flu attack. However, the senior officials at the government-run centre — which only sells eggs and rear chicken — refuse to buy the bird flu logic at this stage. The dead birds — 136 in total in five days — were also sent to live research stock station in Ranchi. On February 9, when the first death was reported at the centre — located in Sector XII — it was said that the death took place because of Fowl Carrizo, a disease said to be found common in chicken. But as nasal discharge of the affected ones was noticed before the death — the first symptom in bird flu — the officials are not rejecting the flu theory as well. Dr Arun, posted at the centre, said that no doubt the death of chicken there is being reported each day but even in fowl cholera disease same type of symptoms are noticed. He added that the blood sample of the dead birds would be sent to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal. The centre-in-charge, Vijay Kumar Mishra, said that though the fowls were kept in five shades, death was reported from only one place.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/108022...ry_8944260.jsp

[HenryN]

Bird flu scare in Varanasi








Varanasi: Bird flu scare has gripped this temple town with the Uttar Pradesh health department cautioning people against eating chicken after nearly 100 poultry birds were found dead in Lohia Nagar area.
Chief Medical Officer Abdul Halim, said the blood samples of the dead birds have been sent to Bhopal for tests. The birds have been buried as a precautionary measure, he said.
The birds were found dead by villagers near Havelia crossing under Sarnath police station on Sunday.
Divisional Animal Husbandry Officer Sardar Singh said it might be possible that the chickens died due to some other disease.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/04/stor...0452380300.htm

[Muscade]

100 dead chickens found near Sarnath

Express news service
Posted online: Monday , March 03, 2008 at 09:55:49
Updated: Sunday , March 02, 2008 at 10:16:08 Print Email To Editor Post Comments

Varanasi, March 2 Nearly 100 chickens were found dead in two separate areas — Varanasi-Ghazipur railway tracks in Lohia Nagar and Nevadhi Sandaha village near Sarnath — on Sunday.
Locals first spotted dead chickens being consumed by crows and dogs at Lohia

Nagar in the morning. They reported the matter to the Animal Husbandary department and the Sarnath police.

While Station Officer Amit Srivastava led his team in burying the dead birds, the police detained Sudhir Singh, owner of the local Vikas Poultry Farm for questioning.

At the behest of Deputy Director (Animal Husbandary) Sardar Singh, a team led by Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO-Varanasi) B B Singh rushed to the spot.

They visited the poultry farm and found that samples of 21 live chickens found in the farm matched with the dead ones. “According to the police, the poultry farm owner has denied ownership of the dead chickens,” said B B Singh. While the veterinary team was busy scanning the area, news came of more dead chickens found at Nevadhi Sandaha village under Chaubeypur police station — a short distance from Lohia Nagar.

The team rushed to the village, a kilometre from Sarnath railway station and found at least 50 dead chickens near a culvert. Villagers told the team that the chickens had been lying there since Saturday. “The stench suggests the chickens had died at least 48 hours ago. Hence, there is no point in conducting tests on them. We are now going to bury them,” Singh said.

“The dead chicken from Lohia Nagar will be sent to High Security Disease Control Lab in Bhopal, while serum and blood samples taken from living birds at the poultry farm will be sent to the lab in Pune,” he added.

Singh, however, did not rule out chances of bird flu spreading in the area. “Only after the samples are tested, can anything be said about the possibility of bird flu. But it cannot be ruled out,” he said.

Meanwhile, Additional City Magistrate Devi Das, who accompanied the team, directed the vets to inspect other poultry farms in the 5-km radius around Sarnath. “There are at least 14 poultry farms in the 5-km radius. According to instructions, we will carry out inspections as a precautionary measure,” Singh further said.

On January 26, a consignment of 5,000 chickens had arrived at Varanasi railway station from bird flu infected district of Birbhum in West Bengal. The consignment brought by local poultry owner Dipu Sonkar was

received by his employee Ghulab and immediately sent to poultry farms in Shahjahanpur in UP and Buxar in Bihar. The chickens were later culled.

“Though there are remote chances of bird flu spreading at a time when summer is setting in, but still we will not take any chances,” the CVO added.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-n...arnath/279304/

[AlaskaDenise]

SMS helped check bird flu in Orissa

March 4th, 2008 - 11:22 am ICT

By Jatindra Dash
Bhubaneswar, March 4 (IANS) Sending alerts, monitoring poultry birds and communicating with field staff, Orissa managed it all through the humble SMS, effectively using the messages to prevent the spread of bird flu, which had resulted in the loss of Rs.5 billion in the neighbouring state of West Bengal. State government officials said they used the SMS as a tool of communication to help increase transmission speed of alerts and execute the necessary precautionary measures.

“We had introduced the ‘SMS-based reporting system’ in our department a year ago to track the health of livestock and breeding services in the state,” said Bishnupada Sethi, director of the state’s animal husbandry and veterinary services (AHD), who implemented the system.

Under this system, the officials codified villages and prevailing livestock diseases to source data from about 10,000 officials, including 2,000 veterinary doctors, working across the state.

“The field animal husbandry department staff at the grassroots, who mostly implement activities of the department, carry cell phones. They have been sending us their reports on cell phones at weekly intervals on a particular date, i.e., Sunday afternoon, through SMS,” Sethi told IANS.

The directorate compiles all the data and the consolidated report is generated by Monday every week for critical analysis and suitable remedial measures by the branch concerned.

During the outbreak of the flu in West Bengal, the government activated this system round-the-clock, he said. “By using the system, we deployed vaccination teams in areas prone to diseases.”

“We were collecting reports from the field and on status of birds. Through SMS, we were sending instructions to the field staff.”

Citing an example of how effective the system proved, Sethi said the principal secretary of his department sent an SMS from the West Bengal border and the government suspended an official instantly for negligence of duty.

Using the system, the government monitored about a million poultry birds in the villages bordering West Bengal, he said. It is a great tool and is also helping the government monitor the state’s 28 million cattle.

The system has reduced the gap between the field functionaries and decision-makers leading to good governance.

The transparency in the system encourages the field staff to communicate openly and a sense of accountability at different level has been established. The feedback from the field staff through their active participation has empowered them, he said.

Though there was some initial resistance at some level, functionaries at different levels have been able to reap the benefits of receiving information for timely action, Sethi added.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/..._10023704.html

[sharon sanders]

80,000 birds culled, Rs 20 lakh compensation in preventive culling


Guwahati, Mar 5: Almost 80,000 chickens and ducks were culled and more than Rs 20 lakh given as compensation to the affected the people in Assam during the preventive culling undertaken to avert outbreak of bird flu.

State Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Minister Khorsing Ingti informed the Assembly today that though no bird flu case was reported in the state, preventive culling was undertaken in Dhubri and Kokrajhar districts, bordering West Bengal.

In replies to separate questions in the House, Mr Ingti informed that altogether 50,640 birds were culled in Kokrajhar and 29,069 birds in Dhubri, with the total figure being 79,709 in the two districts. As much as Rs 20,50,210 was given away as compensation, of which Rs 13,61,260 was given in Kokrajhar and Rs 6,88,950 in Dhubri.

On the number of animals that had died after being afflicted by anthrax, Mr Ingti informed that total 373 animals had died of anthrax between 2001-02 to 2006-07.


Of these, the maximum 151 animals died in 2002-03 and 106 in 2004-05, while no animals died of the disease in 2005-06

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?act...lnews&id=31132

[sharon sanders]

Bird flu back in Bengal villages

OUR BUREAU

Behrampore/ Calcutta, March 8: Fresh cases of bird flu have been detected in two Murshidabad villages, weeks after the Bengal government said culling operations were over and lifted the state-wide ban on selling chickens and ducks. District magistrate Subir Bhadra confirmed tonight that samples sent to the National Animal Research Laboratory in Bhopal from the two villages, Nayamukundapur and Bothra, had tested positive. Bhadra said about 60 rapid response teams would be trained tomorrow so they could start culling chickens and ducks in the affected areas from Monday morning. The samples were sent three days back after 600 chickens died in Nayamukundapur in Raghunathgunj Block II, about 50km from Behrampore, and over 300 perished in Bothra in Murshidabad-Jiagunj block, about 20km from the district headquarters. In Calcutta, animal resource development minister Anisur Rahman said he had heard about the fresh outbreak. “We didn’t carry out culling operations in two freshly affected blocks of Murshidabad in January when bird flu first hit Bengal. We shall begin culling there in full swing from Monday.” The minister said he would visit the affected blocks tomorrow or on Monday after briefing the chief minister. “The situation is indeed worrisome,” he added. The state government had ordered culling operations from mid-January after 16 of Bengal’s 19 districts were found to have been affected by the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Nearly 40 lakh chickens and ducks were culled till February 5. The administration lifted the ban on sale of chickens and ducks seven days later, though mop-up operations are still on in pockets. On February 22, the government resumed culling in Murshidabad and Birbhum after a central government report said the job was incomplete in parts of the two districts. An official in Murshidabad, about 220km from Calcutta, said the administration launched a campaign tonight over loudspeakers, asking people to cooperate and hand over their poultry when culling teams visit their homes on Monday. http://www.telegraphindia.com/108030...y_8998363.jsp#

[HenryN]

Bird flu resurfaces in West Bengal
9 Mar 2008, 0308 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha,TNN

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates

NEW DELHI: A fresh outbreak of bird-flu has occurred in West Bengal. Bhopal's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory confirmed on Friday night that samples sent from Raghunathganj and Jiaganj from Murshidabad district are positive with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus. Animal Husbandry secretary Pradeep Kumar confirmed to TOI, "We have a fresh outbreak. Two samples from Raghunathganj and Jiaganj tested positive. Samples were sent on March 6 to HSADL Bhopal. We notified the West Bengal government on Saturday." He added, "Since the earlier outbreak in West Bengal had occurred in backyard poultry, culling teams had reported that villagers were hiding birds in infected districts from culling teams. The virus may have survived because of this. Fresh culling operations will start from Sunday." Thirteen of the 19 districts of West Bengal were infected by the virus. The outbreak in West Bengal was confirmed on January 15. However, the state hadn't reported a fresh outbreak since February 2, making both the Centre and the state almost certain that the outbreak, which WHO had labelled as India's worst, may have finally been contained. Incidentally, Murshidabad was the epicentre of the original outbreak. "Containment and culling operations will now have to be started afresh in 3-5 km radius around the newly-affected areas. One of the affected areas is a new village in a block which had earlier reported an outbreak," a highly-placed source told TOI. The outbreak comes just days after the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned that intensive surveillance should continue in high-risk areas as the possibility of new outbreaks remained high. "The virus could still be present in the environment despite heavy slaughtering and extensive disinfection of affected areas, or it could be reintroduced from other countries," FAO's chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenechhe said. FAO had, however, commended India for its successful efforts to control the outbreak. In order to achieve rapid control, prevent virus spread to other states and to avoid the risk of human infection, the government had to cull over 3.9 million chickens and ducks, mainly backyard poultry. FAO officials had said, "Intensive culling in the predominantly backyard poultry sector appears to have stopped the disease in its tracks". TOI had reported that the bird deaths were first noticed on January 4 but the Centre was informed only on January 11 by the state. kounteya.sinha@timesgroup.com http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/r...,prtpage-1.cms

[AlaskaDenise]

New cases of bird flu confirmed in Indian villages

Agencies Published: March 09, 2008, 12:33

Calcutta: New cases of bird flu have been confirmed in eastern India on Sunday, one month after four million birds were slaughtered to control the nation’s worst outbreak of the disease. Preparations were underway to kill birds in villages in West Bengal were to be killed, officials said. According to a local official, approximately 900 birds have died of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus over the past week in two villages near Calcutta, where bird flu was previously confirmed. In January, West Bengal experienced an outbreak of the disease, causing authorities to kill nearly four million birds. Officials did not say whether they would reinstate the ban given the fresh outbreak. So far, no known human cases of bird flu have been reported in India. http://www.gulfnews.com/world/India/10196091.html

[Dutchy]

Not West Bengal, Bathinda is near Pakistan

3,000 birds die in Bathinda

Puneet Pal Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Gehri Bhagi (Bathinda), March 8

Panic has gripped this village, near Bathinda, with more than 3,000 birds having died due to an unidentified disease at a poultry farm. Veterinarians of the Animal Husbandry Department have launched an inspection of all poultry farms within a radius of 3 km of the farm.

Department officials have ruled out the presence of avian influenza virus in the dead birds, but they feel that birds’ death might be due to some other deadly virus “because the birds did not react even to the antibiotic medicines given to them,” Dr Darshan Singh, deputy director of the department told The Tribune today.

The poultry birds started dying last week. When this correspondent visited the farm, only 40 birds were left alive. These too were visibly suffering from the disease.

“Samples have been collected from the poultry farm and sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Bhopal. We don’t think it’s the case of avian influenza because the virus affects humans as well whereas the family of the poultry farm owner was unaffected by the disease,” Dr Darshan Singh said. Teams from the veterinary and animal husbandry departments have been visiting the farm ever since they got to know about the death of the birds.

Animal Husbandry Department officials have said the birds had nasal discharge, eye discharge, sneezing, riffled feathers and many more other symptoms. All birds were one month old.

Poultry farm owner Jagsir Singh, who has suffered a loss to the tune of around Rs 2-3 lakh in the death of the birds, said: “All this started almost a week ago.

On the first day, three birds died and I immediately contacted the microbiologist at the Veterinary Polyclinic in Bathinda. But the birds did not respond to the antibiotics given to them. On the second day, 78 birds died while the toll went up to 1,000 on the third day.

The next day 500 more birds died and by the end of this week, almost all birds had died. We thought that the death of the birds was due to some deadly virus because the they did not even get time to react to the medicines given to them.”

“All of my birds were fully vaccinated and all kinds of precautionary measures were taken ever since I started this poultry farm in 1999.

“From time to time, I have been taking guidance from the Animal Husbandry Department, Punjab Agricultural University as well as other veterinary doctors.

“Till date, mortality percentage at my farm was just 4-5, which is considered normal,” he added.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080309/main3.htm

credits Siam

[HenryN]

Fresh bird flu cases reported in India
Posted: 09 March 2008 2158 hrs
Indian state says bird flu under controlIndia steps up culling, calls for calm as bird flu spreads

KOLKATA : Two villages in an eastern Indian state that appeared to have brought a widespread outbreak of bird flu under control last month have reported fresh cases of the disease, officials said Sunday.

The new cases were confirmed a month after a massive cull that slaughtered almost 3.8 million chickens and led West Bengal to lift a ban on the sale and transport of poultry across the state.

"Laboratory tests confirmed bird flu on Friday night in two villages of Murshidabad district," Subir Bhadra, a senior official in the district bordering Bangladesh, which is also battling avian flu, told AFP.

Samples were sent for testing after almost 1,000 chickens died there in the past week, the official said.

The district was one of 13 battling the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu at the peak of the outbreak early last month, when more than half the state was reporting bird flu cases.

"We are very concerned over the fresh outbreak," said state animal resources minister Anisur Rahaman.

"Health workers have been asked to cull all poultry in the district in a day or two."

The West Bengal outbreak, which began in January, is India's third and worst bout of bird flu.

No cases of human infection have been reported so far in India. - AFP/ms

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...333861/1/.html

[HenryN]

Originally Posted by Dutchy

Not West Bengal, Bathinda is near Pakistan

3,000 birds die in Bathinda



“Samples have been collected from the poultry farm and sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Bhopal. We don’t think it’s the case of avian influenza because the virus affects humans as well whereas the family of the poultry farm owner was unaffected by the disease,” Dr Darshan Singh said.
Attachment 2369

Hopes and dreams.

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03..._WB_Again.html

[HenryN]

Birds’ Death at Bathinda Farm
Samples fail bird flu test
Puneet Pal Singh Gill
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 9
Twentyone special teams have been constituted by the Animal Husbandry Department to check further spread of the unidentified disease that has killed nearly 3,000 poultry birds in a farm near here. Top officers said the department had been put on high alert. However, the department has ruled out the possibility of avian influenza virus behind the birds’ death.
Meanwhile, state animal husbandry minister Gulzar Singh Ranike said: “All samples taken from the farm have failed the bird flu test, but still we do not want to take any chances. Until we get the final report from the laboratories at Jalandhar and Bhopal, we would be on high alert. Our department is capable enough to handle any such situation.”
In the past one week, these birds died due to an unidentified disease in a poultry farm in Gehri Bhagi village. The department has started inspection of all poultry farms within a radius of 3 km of the farm hit by the disease.
Talking to The Tribune today, Dr Baljit Singh Sidhu, director, animal husbandry, Punjab, said: “To check the spread of the virus to other areas, we have directed the poultry farm owner not to sell any of the dead birds. We have also asked him not to let move any person or vehicle from that farm to any other poultry farm. We have deputed an official from our department at the farm. All dead birds would be buried under the guidance of the official”.
“Our doctors have collected samples from the farm and sent them to Regional Diagnostic Lab, Jalandhar, as well as to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory, Bhopal. We would get all results in maximum two days’ time,” Sidhu added. Dr Darshan Singh, deputy director, animal husbandry, said: “To check all poultry farms in and around Bathinda for any viral infection, special teams, comprising two doctors, two pharmacists and one or two class IV employees each, have been constituted. In case of any emergency, our department is fully equipped with all kinds of vaccinations and medicines. Besides, we also have ample reserve staff to deal with the situation.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080310/punjab1.htm

[HenryN]

Bengal looks for answers as bird flu spreads
10 Mar 2008, 0213 hrs IST,TNN

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates

MURSHIDABAD/KOLKATA: With the recurrence of the virus in Murshidabad, the administration is now a picture of indifference. District officials confirmed on Sunday the outbreak in 27 villages of Budhra panchayat and another 14 villages and eight municipality wards at Raghunathganj-II block. Asked if people should continue to eat chicken and eggs, the minister, who has been busy participating in chicken festivals after the first outbreak, said: "Oh yes. The ban should be restricted to the affected areas... There is no way you can wipe out the H5N1 virus," he added. Villagers in the affected areas pointed out that thousands of chicken have fallen prey to the deadly virus in the last three weeks. No arrangement for treatment or culling was in place, they said. A central animal husbandry team member, who had visited Murshidabad in January, told TOI from Delhi, that the outbreak proves that the culling operation was defective. "No chicken or duck — full-grown or otherwise — should have been alive there." Officials feared that the flu was spreading through ducks, which don't give away symptoms easily. The culling target at Murshidabad is 50,000 chicken and ducks. "Chicken are dying at Khojardanga, Hyderpur and Elahiganj. Some of these areas had not been affected during the outbreak in January. We are taking precautionary measures," said additional district magistrate Debajyoti Bhattacharya. Health officials in Kolkata, too refused to wake up to the crisis. "It is not that serious yet. We are keeping an eye," said a health department official. In Murshidabad, arrangements were being made in a hurry to get the culling operation rolling. While 25 culling teams will be sent to Budhra, 15 will work at Raghunathganj. Ten of these teams have been summoned from neighbouring districts. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...,prtpage-1.cms

[HenryN]

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03...ad_Spread.html

[Treyfish]

H5N1 Spread in Murshidabad India

Recombinomics Commentary 22:22
March 9, 2008

District officials confirmed on Sunday the outbreak in 27 villages of Budhra panchayat and another 14 villages and eight municipality wards at Raghunathganj-II block.

Villagers in the affected areas pointed out that thousands of chicken have fallen prey to the deadly virus in the last three weeks.

The culling target at Murshidabad is 50,000 chicken and ducks. "Chicken are dying at Khojardanga, Hyderpur and Elahiganj.

The above comments confirm that the lack of reported H5N1 in West Bengal was due to a lack of testing. The reports of widespread H5N1 in neighboring Bangladesh raised serious transparency issues. The above comments indicate that birds have been dying for the past three weeks..

India has had serious H5N1 transparency issues for some time. They have yet to report H5N1 in any wild bird, resident or migratory, even though large numbers of crow deaths have been associated with multiple H5N1 outbreaks, and migratory birds have died with bird flu symptoms, including pneumonia.

The lack of testing or reporting will not control H5N1. Similarly, border checks will not prevent the spread of H5N1 by wild birds, which have likely moved H5N1 in regions in India beyond the reported cases in West Bengal.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03...ad_Spread.html

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03..._Multiple.html

[Treyfish]

State’s negligence blamed for virus comeback
Pranesh Sarkar
KOLKATA, March 9: Utter negligence and callousness of the state government, especially in the post culling operation period, helped the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus to catch the state on the wrong foot once again.
According to the information sent by the Centre, fresh bird flu cases have been found in Raghunathganj-II and Jiaganj blocks in Murshidabad. It can be recalled that in the first phase, Raghunathganj-II block was one of the affected blocks of the districts and the state had claimed that culling operation was carried out properly in all the affected blocks.
Experts said that the state government had taken post culling operation activities very lightly and this attitude has helped the virus to re-emerge in the state. According to the guidelines of the Centre, proper follow up action is needed after culling operation gets over in the bird flu affected areas, which include mopping up operation and disinfection activities to leave no chance for the virus to re-emerge. Apart from claiming that proper mopping up and disinfection process was undertaken in the bird flu affected blocks, the state government imposed a ban on all kind of poultry activities and movement of poultry products in all the 48 bird flu affected blocks and five municipalities for three months. But the order could not be implemented properly.
The ARD minister, Mr Anisur Rahman had admitted that poultry birds were being sold in the affected blocks despite the ban. He had also announced the backyard poultry owners who were doing the trading would not be paid compensation as they were flouting the ban. But this also failed to stop the rampant selling of chickens in these areas.
Now experts feel that as the virus has re-emerged in Murshidabad, it is exposed that either culling operation was not carried out properly or no proper follow up action was undertaken. The Centre has also expressed dissatisfaction over the state’s activities in the post culling operation period. http://www.thestatesman.net/page.new...ss=1&id=194373

[Treyfish]

H5N1 Spread to Multiple Districts in West Bengal

Recombinomics Commentary 23:30
March 9, 2008

Bird deaths were reported from Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia today, barely 24 hours after fresh cases of bird flu were confirmed in two blocks of Murshidabad.

Nearly 6,000 chickens have died in four villages of Bhatar block in Burdwan since March 1. Over 2,000 poultry birds have perished in Dubrajpur, Birbhum, and Nadia’s Ranaghat.

Poultry owners in Burd-wan accused officials of keep-ing them in the dark about what actually happened to their chickens. “Our chickens are dying almost everyday but no help is coming,” said Joydeb Ghosh of Bamuniya village, who has lost 250 chickens over the past few days.

As many as 1,000 chickens died in Swapan Nohar’s farm in Ratanpur today. “They became drowsy and drooped before dying,” he said.

The above comments describe likely spread of H5N1 I multiple districts in West Bengal. The above locations are close to H5N1 outbreaks in Bangladesh, which are being reported daily (see satelite maps here here here) in addition to the confirmed outbreaks in Murshidabad, where poultry has been dying for the past three weeks.

The dramatic spread of H5N1 in Bangladesh, coupled with earlier widespread outbreaks in West Bengal, strongly suggests that the excessive poultry deaths described above are linked to H5N1.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03..._Multiple.html

[Treyfish]

Bird flu back in Bengal
Kolkata, March 10, 2008
First Published: 01:28 IST(10/3/2008)
Last Updated: 01:30 IST(10/3/2008)


Fresh cases of bird flu have been reported again in Bengal, hardly a couple of weeks after the government completed culling of birds in 14 districts in the state.
The deadly disease had hit Margram village in Birbhum first on January 14 and then spread to 13 other districts.
Deaths of chickens were also reported from Dubrajpur area in Birbhum during the past few days. On Saturday, bird flu was reported in two villages Nayamukundapur and Bothra in Raghunathganj and Jiyaganj blocks respectively in Murshidabad district.
About 900 chickens died in the two villages showing symptoms of bird flu in the past 10 days. Several samples of the chicken carcasses were sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal for confirmation of bird flu. The samples were tested positive.
The state animal resource development (ARD) department minister Anisur Rahman said, “Fresh bird flu cases were reported in two new villages in two blocks in Murshidabad. Fresh culling operation will start within five kms range of the two affected villages from Monday. There is no need to spread panic. More than 50 teams will be engaged for culling operation in the area.”
About 1500 chickens died in three villages Metela, Jhaptara and Goondara in the Birbhum’s Dubrajpur police during past five days apreading panic among the villagers. District ARD department said that several samples of carcasses would be sent to the Bhopal laboratory.
Metela is the worst affected village where almost 900 chickens have died.
The state government has so far culled around 40 lakh of poultry birds and ducks in the 14 districts since January 14. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryP...back+in+Bengal

[AlaskaDenise]

Originally Posted by niman

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03..._WB_Again.html

Commentary

H5N1 Confirmed in West Bengal Again

Recombinomics Commentary 21:21
March 9, 2008

"Laboratory tests confirmed bird flu on Friday night in two villages of Murshidabad district," Subir Bhadra, a senior official in the district bordering Bangladesh, which is also battling avian flu

The above comments describe the confirmation of H5N1 in West Bangal, India. H5N1 in eastern India is not a surprise. After the extensive culling program, India reports indicated H5N1 was no longer present, but Bangladesh reported recurring infections leading to spread to new districts and an increase in culling activity that was 10 fold higher in the last month than the prior the rate for the previous 12 months.

Both countries reported dead wild birds near H5N1 positive poultry. Bangladesh confirmed H5N1 in the wild birds, indicating limiting H5N1 to regions in the country, and regions across the border would be difficult.

Additional reports of H5N1 in India are expected.


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