India (incl. West Bengal) - Poultry (December 2008 -)

[HenryN]

Bird flu scare
Malda, Dec. 12: The government has sounded a north Bengal alert following a bird flu outbreak in Assam, but at least 250 chickens have died in a Malda village in two days and no sample has been sent for tests.
A panchayat leader said the ?chickens got drowsy and died?. Villagers complained of dead birds being dumped all over. ?Children are playing with them.? Over 30,000 chickens had died in Malda in January and nearly two lakh were culled. The flu struck Assam less than a month after India declared itself free of the disease. Two teams from Delhi will join three already in that state to assist in human surveillance.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/108121...y_10246730.jsp

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry

Updated map

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.00045da2c3c24f4d59de3&ll=25.005973,89.104614&spn=2.354537,3.224487&z=8

[Commonground]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Info on Malda:
"The district Head quarter town is located 365 km north of Kolkata & 260 km south of Siliguri. Lying on the confluence of the Mahananda and Kalindri rivers he Malda town rose to prominence as the river port of the Hindu capital of Pandua. Malda is a base for visiting Gaur and Pandua. Map: http://www.north-bengal.com/places/malda/map.htm

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12120804/H5N1_Malda_Again.html

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100&#37;"><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>Alert after bird flu in Assam
- 250 chickens dead in malda in 48 hours
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>OUR CORRESPONDENT</TD></TR><TR><TD class=story align=left><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=172 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor align=left>Dead chicken lying around in Sathghoria village. Picture by Surajit Roy </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Malda, Dec. 12: The Bengal animal resources development department has sounded an alert in the districts of north Bengal bordering Assam following the outbreak of bird flu in the neighbouring state. At least 250 poultry chickens have died in the past 48 hours in a Malda village.


Animal resources development minister Anisur Rahman had held a video-conference with the officials of his department in the region on Wednesday. “We have alerted the districts bordering Assam after reports of bird flu,” the minister had told the conference.

At Satghoria village in Malda’s Narhatta gram panchayat, Abul Hossain’s 52 and Maheboob Zahed’s 23 chickens died in the past two days. Habibur Rahaman of the same locality had lost 16 birds, Anzor Sheikh had 14, Fuju Sheikh 15, Naju Sheikh 13, Namima Bibi 12 and Md Ismail had lost five chickens. Around 25 chickens died in the village even today, spreading panic among villagers.
Bishan Chowdhury, the pradhan of Narhatta gram panchayat, said: “The chickens first get stricken with drowsiness and then die suddenly. We have brought it to the notice of the animal resources department. This incident has been going on for the past one week or so.”


Villagers complained that there was no one to remove the dead chickens.

“Children can be seen playing with them Dogs feast on them and the remains dirty the place,” one of them said.
More than 30,000 chickens had died of avian flu in January. Nearly two lakh birds had been culled in the district then.
CPM councillor of the Old Malda Municipality Biswanath Sukul wondered why the administration was “sitting idle”.
He demanded that the blood samples of the chickens should immediately be sent to Bhopal for tests. “We will ask compensation from the administration for the affected villagers,” he said.

The pradhan said the department should act on warfooting because the chicken deaths would have far reaching effect on the rural economy.

“Several self-help groups, comprising women only, have in recent times invested in poultry farming,” Chowdhury added.
District animal resources officer Nikhil Sit, however, tried to allay the bird flu fear. “The cause of death is yet to be ascertained,” he said, while asking the affected villagers to contact the nearest veterinary hospital for free vaccination of the birds.
Sridhar Ghosh, the district magistrate, said no one had informed him about the chicken deaths. “I shall ask for a report from the department officials and take necessary steps.”

In Assam, which shares the border with Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri, the government yesterday sounded a grim warning over the probable spread of avian influenza to humans, saying the state was not equipped to handle such a health scenario.
The alert came in the wake of 82 cases of upper respiratory track infections in humans that were reported from six districts affected by bird flu. However, it was not yet confirmed whether these were bird flu-related cases.
An infection in the upper respiratory track is one of the symptoms of the disease in humans.
“If human beings are affected it would be a bigger disaster than floods or blasts,” health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had told reporters.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081213/jsp/siliguri/story_10243619.jsp

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Malda district map

http://www.calcuttaweb.com/maps/maldah.shtml

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Malda Blocks

http://maldazillaschool.nic.in/ENGLISHBAZAR.PDF

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12...lda_Again.html

Commentary

H5N1 Spread to Malda West Bengal
Recombinomics Commentary 21:42
December 12, 2008

at least 250 chickens have died in a Malda village in two days and no sample has been sent for tests.

A panchayat leader said the “chickens got drowsy and died”. Villagers complained of dead birds being dumped all over. “Children are playing with them.”

The above comments strongly suggest H5N1 has spread to West Bengal. Malda is a border town and is about 30 miles from the confirmed H5N1 in Naogaon, Bangladesh (see updated map). Last season, there was extensive culling in Malda (see 2008 map). It was one of the first confirmed locations. Meghalaya had warned of H5N1 in multiple locations in West Bengal and Bangladesh, and recent reports have confirmed the warning.

Thus, even though an alert has been sounded for West Bengal, and chickens are dying, there is no testing and dumped dead chickens are increasing the risk off spread to people and wild birds. This response is similar to the delays and minimal testing last season in West Bengal.

The outbreak this season is considerably earlier than the record breaking outbreaks in India and Bangladesh last season, but the daily reports of new outbreaks in Assam indicate that more reports will be filed soon in adjacent regions in India and Bangladesh.


.

[Commonground]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Bird flu alert in north Bengal district

Cooch Behar (WB): An alert for bird flu was sounded on Friday in north Bengal?s Cooch Behar district. Samples of blood have been sent for the test following the outbreak in the neighbouring districts of Assam. Additional District
Magistrate (D), Cooch Behar, Pannalal Mahapatra, said though there was no report of poultry death, arrangements had been made to disinfect vehicles coming from Assam. Officials of the Animal Resource Development department have sent samples of blood collected from different areas for laboratory tests ? PTI

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

<TABLE style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%">Bird flu scare grips Malda</ARTTITLE>
14 Dec 2008, 0344 hrs IST, TNN
</TD></TR><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left><!-- google_ad_section_start -->MALDA: The avian flu scare is back in Malda, with the death of hundreds of birds in Satgharia village in Englishbazar, a day after an alert over the disease was sounded in Cooch Behar.

The Malda district administration, however, is not ready to press the panic button just yet.

Fajlur Ali, a resident of Satgharia, said: "In the last few days, we noticed that our chickens became drowsy, and finally died. We initially thought that it was Ranikhet disease, which is common during winter. Later, similar deaths began to be reported from other villages also."

Villagers alleged that about 200 birds died in the last three days.

The administration is not very worried, however. "We have had an experience of bird flu last year and we know how to tackle it," said Malda ADM P C ****. "After receiving reports of chicken deaths from Satgharia, an animal resources development team was sent there. They collected samples from both dead and live chickens. We'll send the samples to Bhopal for confirmation," he added. No culling will commence before bird flu is confirmed, the ADM said.

The Cooch Behar administration has made arrangements to disinfect vehicles entering through the Baxirhat entry point, which is in the grip of bird flu. Animal resources development department officials have also collected at least 10 samples from different areas of Cooch Behar and sent them for tests, said the district's ADM, Pannalal Mahapatra.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3833966,prtpage-1.cms

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[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12140801/H5N1_Malda_Spread.html

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

West Bengal stops movement of poultry products from Assam


Special Correspondent







KOLKATA: The death of some poultry birds over the past two days in the English Bazaar block of West Bengal?s Malda district has raised fears of an attack of avian flu in the district.
?Samples from the dead birds have been sent for tests to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kolkata,? Malda?s Additional District Magistrate (General) P.C. Sit, told The Hindu over telephone on Sunday.
?Experience suggests the possibility of a recurrence of bird flu attacks after a major outbreak. No culling operation in the aftermath of such outbreaks are foolproof,? said an official of the district?s Animal Resources Development Department said.
20,000 birds culled


More than 20,000 poultry birds had been culled following an outbreak of avian flu in the English Bazaar block in January-February this year.
Movement of poultry products into the State from adjoining Assam has been stopped following reports of outbreak of the disease in some parts of that State, said R.K. Sinha, District Magistrate, Cooch Behar.
Border sealed


Cooch Behar shares a border with Assam.
?The border has been sealed for the past week as far as poultry birds and products are concerned. Surveillance is being conducted in the district and there have been no reports of bird deaths so far,? he added.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/15/stories/2008121551240100.htm

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Birbhum on edge, fears Bird Flu outbreak

Snehamoy Chakraborty

The health authorities have already instructed the medical superintendents of district hospitals to keep medicine and other equipment ready, leftovers from the last outbreak in January.

The district health authorities have asked the superintendents of all three sub-divisional hospitals and the block medical officers (health) to check the stock of medicine including Tami Flu tablets and personal protective equipment (PPE) and prepare a report in this regard.

According to district health authorities, nearly 600 Tami Flu tablets and 10 cartons of PPE are stored in different hospitals of the district. If another outbreak is declared, more medicine and PPE would be required.

?The state health department has directed us to be aware of a possible bird flu outbreak during the winter. We have already checked the stock of medicine and PPE at different hospitals. We will ask for more medicine and PPE if a fresh outbreak is reported. A meeting between the district administration and the ARD officials will be held on 16 December at DRDC hall in Suri in this regard,? said Dr Sunil Kumar Bhowmik, CMOH, Birbhum.

The ARD has not been informed of any unusual occurrences regarding chickens or other birds in the district.

?We have already formed monitoring committees in the block and sub-division levels. The members of those committees are carrying out regular surveillance on poultry birds. But there has been no reports of unusual poultry bird deaths so far,? said a senior ARD official.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235724

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Bird Flu outbreak feared in Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Dec. 14: The Malda district health authority seems to have geared itself up with more chickens and ducks dying in Satgharia and Sabjipara villages since Friday.

People have been anticipating Avian Flu recurrence in the region but with the news of more birds dying, they have started to panic. Reports of birds? death even today in the neighbouring Budhia seems to have further compounded the situation.

The district animal resources development (ARD) officials yesterday visited two villages and collected samples of ailing and dead birds for laboratory test to confirm outbreak of Avian Flu.

The deputy director of ARD in Malda, Mr NK ****, said that his department had found symptoms similar to Bird Flu in the dead and ailing birds. ?We have sent three dead birds to Kolkata last night and are waiting for the test reports,? he said.

According to the health official sources, the regional diagnostic laboratory in Kolkata would send the dead birds to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal today for the confirmation of H5N1 virus in their body. ?Bird Flu has shown a recurrence inclination. It may recur twice or thrice depending upon the congeniality in the affected area's environment. Thus, we are concerned,? said Mr ****.

It shoud be noted that Malda had experienced the first Bird Flu outbreak in January this year in the Chanchal sub-division area in the northern part of the district and then again in February. Hundreds of chickens had died with teh dreaded Bird Flu in several state run poultry farms in English Bazaar town.
The ARD officials, however, seemed to be denying this, refusing to give credence to the fresh panic reports pouring in from some villagers, although the villagers kept on insisting that hundreds of chickens and ducks had fallen prey to the disease over the last three days.

The ARD officials are reported to have informed the district magistrate of the death of only five birds, four at Satgharia and one at Sabjibazaar.

The additional district magistrate (general), Mr PC Sit, would visit the villages tomorrow. ?I would visit the villages to ascertain the exact number of dead birds as confusion prevails over the figures reported from various quarters,? he said today.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235755

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Avian Flu: Bengal no wiser
Pranesh Sarkar
KOLKATA, Dec. 14: Has the state learnt any lesson from the previous bird flu outbreak that was termed worst ever in the country? Well, apparently the answer seems a big No.
For the animal resources development department (ARD) officials took six days to visit the villages in Malda, where above average mortality of poultry birds was reported, and collected samples to be sent to the Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) for bird flu confirmation test.
However, the action plan on Avian Influenza that was sent to all states in 2006 clearly states that if unusual sickness or above average mortality of poultry or wild and migratory birds is reported, the ARD officials should visit the place within 24 hours and ascertain the circumstances. Samples must be collected and a special messenger should leave for Bhopal within 24 hours after the ARD officials reach the spot.
A few senior ARD officials said above average mortality of poultry birds was being reported from three villages in Englishbazar block in Malda over the past one week or so. But the local ARD officials visited the villages only yesterday and collected dead bird as samples after death rate of poultry birds appeared to be alarming over the past three days.
A senior ARD official said: ?An officer of assistant director rank has been sent to Bhopal with the samples this evening. As unusual mortality of poultry birds was reported and as poultry birds are dying with symptoms very similar to Avian Influenza, samples should have been sent much earlier.?
Officials also said as bird flu has not emerged since May in the state, the post-operative surveillance of poultry birds was not being done with utmost sincerity.
?No one can claim that the state was carrying out post operative surveillance with cent per cent sincerity. But alarmingly in some areas, we could achieve only 30-40 percent of the surveillance target over the past few month. This was evident in Malda too, where above average poultry birds were dying of a disease over the past seven days, the local ARD officials came to know about that after five days,? said an official.
However, the director of ARD, Mr K Saha, said: ?As I have taken charge as director recently, I cannot comment...?

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235697