Bird flu detected in Nepal for first time - minister
KATHMANDU, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Bird flu has been found in birds in Nepal, a minister said on Friday, the first time the virus has surfaced in the Himalayan nation.
"Bird flu has been reported in birds from a village in east Nepal. We have declared that area crisis-hit," Krishna Bahadur Mahara, minister for Communication and Information, told Reuters.
He could not immediately say if the virus was the virulent H5N1 strain, or if it had been found in poultry or wild birds.
An emergency meeting of the cabinet declared Nepal a bird flu affected country Friday afternoon.
Tourism Minister Hisila Yami told journalists as she emerged out of the meeting halfway that the government has decided to exterminate all birds in the areas three kilometers from the Nepal-India border at Kakarvitta in Jhapa district.
The government has also decided to expedite surveillance in the areas 10 kilometers from the Kakarvitta border, according to our correspondent Kiran Chapagain.
Traces of bird flu had been found in six out of seven samples of birds brought to Nepal from India.
KATHMANDU, Jan 16 - Government on Thursday decided to kill birds around 3 km areas from Jhapa district after Bird flu was detected in Kakarvitta.
An emergency meeting of the cabinet took the decision after six out of every seven chicken brought to Mechi-10, Kakarvitta imported from India were diagnosed with avian flu.
The Cabinet also decided to be high alert at the areas around 10 km from Kakarvitta to prevent the bird flu from spreading.
The meeting was held at the Cabinet office in Singha Durbar.
KATHMANDU, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 bird flu has been found in poultry in Nepal, a minister said on Friday, the first time the virus has surfaced in the Himalayan nation.
"The virus has been found in chicken and ducks. We have confirmed it is H5N1 virus," Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Prasad Gupta told Reuters.
Bird flu was reported in poultry from the southeast Nepal town of Kakarvitta, bordering India, officials said.
"We have declared that area crisis-hit," said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, minister for Communication and Information.
The epicentre of the outbreak is close to India's West Bengal state which has been fighting to contain intermittent outbreaks of the virus in poultry since last year.
India has culled millions of chicken and ducks to contain the virus since its first outbreak in 2006, but has reported no human infections.
Experts have warned the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.
According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 bird flu has infected more than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.
Kathmandu (PTI): Nepal has detected its first bird flu case of the season in a district bordering India, a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prachanda said on Friday.
The bird flu virus was detected in samples from an eastern Nepalese Mechinagar municipality bordering India.
The cabinet meeting officially confirmed that bird flu was found in Ward No 10 of the municipality, according to cabinet sources.
The government has directed the concerned authorities to immediately take measures to confine and control bird flu, Minister for Science and Technology Ganesh Shah told PTI.
After bird flu was tested in birds in the eastern Nepal municipality near Kakarbhitta, Nepal government has decided to send "rapid group" to the area to take necessary measures as per international standard, he said.
The rapid group is a team of experts and quarantine officials that would take all necessary steps to prevent spreading of the disease.
The government has directed the authorities to isolate the area from other areas and to quell all the birds found within three kilometre radius of the place so that the virus could not spread to other areas.
Nepal has earlier, banned import of birds and poultry products as the bird flu was found in various districts of India bordering Nepal.
KATHMANDU (AFP) — Nepal on Friday reported its first outbreak of bird flu in poultry, confirming a case of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus in the eastern part of the Himalayan country.
"Laboratory tests confirmed that chickens in one of the livestock farms died of the bird flu virus," health official Udaya Pratap Singh told AFP from Kakarbhitta, near the Indian border.
Singh said the tests, performed after a local farmer reported that 12 chickens died mysteriously on Thursday, confirmed the H5N1 strain of the virus. He said it was too early to say if there were any human cases.
"The area has been declared an emergency zone and surveillance has been increased," said Singh.
Singh said police have been mobilised along the border to stop poultry imports from India.
"We have started spraying disinfectant on vehicles coming from India and imports of chickens, ducks, birds, eggs and other poultry related items has been banned," he said.
Bird flu hits Nepal
Kathmandu, Jan 16 : Unscathed by the past bird flu epidemics that had swept its giant neighbours India and China, Nepal has finally reported the first outbreak of the deadly poultry disease, declaring an eastern town adjoining the Indian border quarantined area.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda Friday called an emergency meeting of his cabinet to discuss the epidemic and other crises.
At the end of the meeting, Information and Communications Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is also the government spokesman, told the media that the first outbreak of the disease caused by the Avian Influenza Virus has been detected in the border town of Kakarbhitta in eastern Jhapa district.
The government has ordered all poultry in the town as well as other areas within 3 km of it to be culled.
Grim-faced poultry farmers watched by the police Friday began the destruction process.
The cabinet decision came after six of the seven poultry samples from Kakarbhitta tested positive for bird flu.
To keep the disease from spreading, the government has also ordered the district administration not to allow the transportation of poultry within 10 km of the quarantined town.
Even after outbreaks were reported in India, smuggling of poultry and eggs across the open border had continued.
The contamination is likely to have come from India.
India's West Bengal state would be the most affected if a full-scale epidemic breaks out in Jhapa.
Since 1997, the infection has also been reported in humans, especially people who have regular contact with infected birds.
Symptoms of avian influenza in humans range from fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches to eye infections, pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.
According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 250 people have been killed due to bird flu since 2003.
--- IANS
(green markers represent coordinates from latest OIE report from India which are not very precise. The actual location is to the north and east of the green markers and are closer to Siliguri, the epicenter of the outbreak).
Eastern Nepal registers its first bird flu outbreak
15:02
|
16/ 01/ 2009
NEW DELHI, January 16 (RIA Novosti) - Nepal has introduced measures to deal with its first outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in the eastern border region of the Himalayan country, the government's press secretary told reporters on Friday.
Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the minister for communication and information, said that a 10-kilometer (8-mile) quarantine zone had been imposed to contain the spread of the virus around the Kakarbhitta village. All birds within a 3-kilometer radius of the village are due to be culled.
"Six out of every seven chickens brought from Kakarbhitta were found to have been infected with the avian flu," Mahara said, adding that the region had been declared an emergency zone.
It is believed the outbreak, affecting domestic chickens and ducks, in the Jhapa administrative district may have spread across the border from the Indian state of West Bengal and Assam, where some 500,000 domestic fowl have been culled since December 2008 following a bird flu outbreak.
According to the World Health Organization, avian influenza has so far killed 243 people out of a total 387 confirmed cases worldwide. Although there have been no incidences of human to human infection, experts fear that it may mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted from person to person, causing a global pandemic.
Nepal has confirmed its first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, officials say.
The agriculture ministry said the virus had been found in chickens and ducks in the south-eastern town of Kakarvitta, near the Indian border.
Officials said an emergency zone had been declared and a culling operation was in place. There are no reports of any human infection.
Bird flu has killed nearly 250 people in 15 countries since 2003.
Health officials said tests were performed after 12 chickens died in unknown circumstances on Thursday.
Officials were sent on Friday to cull 13,000 birds to try to control the virus around the town, Reuters reported.
Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Prasad Gupta told the news agency: "We got the confirmation today and are now seeking international help to fight the outbreak."
Officials believe the virus could have come from India where millions of birds have been culled since the virus was first detected there in 2006.
Mr Gupta said Nepal had been on alert given the outbreaks in India.
H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic.
Published: Friday 16 January 2009 12:40 UTC
Last updated: Friday 16 January 2009 12:43 UTC
Nepal has reported its first outbreak of the strain of bird flu virus that is dangerous to humans. The H5N1 virus was found to have infected chickens and ducks in Kakarvitta in the east of the country. The area has been declared an emergency zone and thousands of poultry are to be slaughtered.
Kakarvitta lies on the border with the Indian state of West Bengal, where there is already an outbreak of the flu strain. Nepal has stationed extra police on the border to prevent poultry imports from India.
According to the World Health Organisation, since 2003 the H5N1 bird flu virus has infected people in 15 countries, principally in Asia. At least 247 people have died of the virus.
Nepal is confirming bird flu in poultry has been detected for the first time in the Himalayan nation. This follows outbreaks last month in Bangladesh and India.
Several Nepalese government ministries confirm the first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus in birds in the country. But they say they have no reports of the virus affecting humans.
The outbreak, which killed chickens and ducks, is at a farm in the southern town of Kakarvitta, bordering the Indian state of West Bengal.
An Indian consultant to the poultry industry, Amit Sachdev, tells VOA that after recent bird flu outbreaks in West Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh, it was inevitable Nepal would see its own cases.
"It's all porous borders. There is a huge movement of chicken, chicks and people in those areas," he said. "So it does not just come as a surprise. It was bound to happen and it has just happened."
India has culled millions of chickens and ducks since its first outbreaks in 2006.
Following an emergency cabinet meeting Friday in Kathmandu, Nepal's government ordered poultry slaughtered within a three-kilometer radius of Kakarvitta, 480 kilometers east of the capital.
Poultry expert Sachdev says the culling should be merely the first counteraction Nepal takes.
"The second step would be cleaning that whole area because the virus can remain in the feathers or in the dead birds and on the feces," Sachdev explained. "We know that there could be some smuggling around - that farmers who don't want their birds to be killed would take [them] to other areas. But if those birds are infested or infected that would be a major issue."
Nepal banned poultry imports from India last year after outbreaks of H5N1 here. But officials acknowledge chickens are still routinely smuggled across the border.
Avian influenza is a major concern to health experts. They worry the H5N1 strain could mutate or combine with the seasonal human influenza virus, triggering a global pandemic killing millions of people. The virus, according to the World Health Organization, has killed about 250 people since resurfacing six years ago in Asia.
Information received on 16/01/2009 from Dr Mainali Purushottam Prasad, Director General , Department of Livestock Services , Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives , Kathmandu, Nepal
-- Summary
Report type Immediate notification
Start date 08/01/2009
Date of first confirmation of the event 16/01/2009
Report date 16/01/2009
Date submitted to OIE 16/01/2009
Reason for notification Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 12/1996
Manifestation of disease Clinical disease
Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus Serotype H5N1
Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to the whole country
-- New outbreaks
Summary of outbreaks: Total outbreaks: 1
Outbreak Location and Affected population: MECHI (Nagaar Nagarpalika, Jhapa) : backyard poultry
* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction and/or slaughter
-- Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection Unknown or inconclusive
-- Epidemiological comments
Culling is planned on 17 January 2009.
-- Control measures
Measures applied Quarantine
Movement control inside the country
Zoning
Disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s)
Vaccination prohibited
No treatment of affected animals
Measures to be applied Stamping out
-- Diagnostic test results
Laboratory name and type Central Disease Investigation Laboratory (National laboratory)
Tests and results: Species - Test - Test date - Result
* Birds - polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - 16/01/2009 - Positive
Laboratory name and type VLA Weybridge, United Kingdom (OIE’s Reference Laboratory)
Tests and results: Species - Test - Test date - Result
* Birds - real-time PCR - 16/01/2009 - Positive
-- Future Reporting
The event is continuing. Weekly follow-up reports will be submitted.
-
-----
__________________
GIMI69 (IRONOREHOPPER)
--
People come and go, but the creative force of great historical events, as well as important ideas and actions remain. (Aleksandr Romanovic Lurija, 1976)
-- A TIME'S MEMORY (Blog) ATTRAVERSO QUESTI GIORNI (Blog) tracciatore_traccia@libero.it
Nepal reports bird flu outbreak
A health worker disinfects a vehicle coming from India into Nepal, in Kakarvitta January 16, 2009. Nepal said on Friday it had found the H5N1 bird flu in poultry, the first time the deadly virus has surfaced in the Himalayan nation, prompting culling operations in the country's southeast. PHOTO/ REUTERS
By REUTERSPosted Friday, January 16 2009 at 17:29
KATHMANDU
Nepal said on Friday that it had found the H5N1 bird flu in poultry, the first time the deadly virus has surfaced in the Himalayan nation.
“The virus has been found in chicken and ducks,” Agriculture minister Jai Prakash Prasad Gupta told Reuters.
Bird flu was reported in poultry from the crowded southeast Nepal town of Kakarvitta, bordering India, officials said.
The epicentre of the outbreak is close to India’s West Bengal state, which has been fighting to contain intermittent outbreaks of the virus in poultry since last year.
Hari Dahal, a Nepalese Agriculture ministry spokesman, said no bird flu symptoms had been noticed among people in the affected area. He said the virus could have come from India.
Veterinary workers were sent to the region on Friday to cull 13,000 poultry in five days to try to control the virus within a 3 km radius of Kakarvitta town.
Officials said they sent seven dead birds for testing in a laboratory in London after a dozen birds, all backyard poultry, died mysteriously in Kakarvitta about a week back.
Neighbouring India has culled millions of chicken and ducks to contain the virus since its first outbreak in 2006, but has reported no human infections.
Experts have warned the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.
The virus does not infect people easily now but continues to pop up in flocks of birds in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and could mutate into a form that passes from one person to another.
According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 bird flu has infected more than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.
Bird flu comes to Nepal, confirms UK laboratory:13,000 birds to be culled in 5 days
Prakash Acharya/ Govinda Chhetri
Kathmandu/Jhapa January 16:
There has been an outbreak of bird flu for the first time in the country today. The deadly H5N1 strain of virus has been detected at Kakarbhitta, which shares a border with West Bengal in India, in Jhapa district.
An emergency cabinet today meeting declared the affected zone ‘bird flu crisis-hit area’.
“No bird flu symptoms in human have been detected till now. But we are planning to monitor the health of the people in the affected area. Preliminary estimates suggest that the virus will be eliminated within a month,” said Tek Bahadur Thapa, secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC).
The government has decided to cull 13,000 chickens and birds in a radius of three-km area
over the next five days. The government has also promised to give compensation to
the poultry owners.
A blanket ban has also been imposed on rearing and consuming poultry products in the affected area for the next three months. Health and surveillance teams from the capital are being dispatched to tackle the crisis.
“The Rapid Response personnel are coming from Kathmandu. The affected area has a local and broiler chicken population of 2,000 and 10,000, respectively,” said Dr Dilip Sapkota, chief, District Livestock Services Office.
Seven samples were sent for test to OIE Reference Laboratory, Weybridge, UK, on January 11. The results proved to be positive today.
Initially, the test was conducted at the Laboratory of Department of Livestock Services, Tripureshwor, on January 7.
Mysterious death of 11 chickens, which belonged to Ramesh Karki, a resident of Mechinagar Municipality, triggered panic. Subsequent, samples were sent for test.
“The government is yet to figure out the source of the virus. We will urge the Indian government to help stop the import of poultry products,” said Dr Prabhakar Pathak, director general, Department of Livestock Services.
Nepal has banned import of poultry products from India on January 5 after the outbreak of the disease was reported at Matigara in neighbouring Darjeeling district. It is about 36 km from Kakarbhitta.
According to Thapa, the poultry industry accounts for four per cent Gross Domestic Product. Around 65,000 people are associated with the trade.
H5N1 Spread to Nepal Raises Surveillance Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 14:05
January 16, 2009
"The virus has been found in chicken and ducks. We have confirmed it is H5N1 virus," Agriculture Minister Jai Prakash Prasad Gupta told Reuters.
Bird flu was reported in poultry from the southeast Nepal town of Kakarvitta, bordering India, officials said.
The above comments confirm H5N1 spread to a border town in the Jhapa district of Nepal. This spread is not surprising. The large outbreak in Suliguri raised concerns that H5N1 could be reported in adjacent areas, including Nepal (see updated map). Suliguri is surrounded by nature reserves and wild bird sanctuaries and almost exactly 1 year ago H5N1 was confirmed in West Bengal. Thus, outbreaks in Assam and West Bengal last month suggested H5N1 would spread as the temperature dropped. On a related note, the January 14 update from MOFL in Bangladesh reported culling of 5229 birds in Dhaka.
Nepal has announced pans to cull all birds within 3 km of the outbreak. Two districts in India are within 3 km of the outbreak (Kishanganj in Bihar and Darjeeling in West Bengal) and additional spread is likely.
West Bengal has already expressed concern about culling in the adjacent Darjeeling Hills due to political unrest, and wild birds (local resident as well as migratory) do not respect borders.
As the temperature drops in the area, more outbreaks are expected and confirmation will be largely dependent on testing Nepal announced the H5N1 positives one day after the reported deaths, which is significantly faster than India, which sends a limited number of samples to distant testing centers.
.
__________________
"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 Foundation
AVIAN INFLUENZA (05): NEPAL, FIRST OUTBREAK
*******************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Bird flu detected in Jhapa
--------------------------
For the 1st time in Nepal, bird flu virus has been detected in Kakarbhitta
in the eastern district of Jhapa. After the detection of bird flu virus,
the government on Thursday [15 Jan 2008] decided to cull birds within the
range of 3 km [1.8 miles] from the site.
Declaring the 10 km [6.2 mile] region of Kakarbhitta 'an emergency area,'
the cabinet meeting took the decision to kill the birds today as 6 out of
every 7 chickens brought from Mechi Municipality-10, Kakarbhitta, were
found to have been infected with the avian flu.
The meeting has decided to be on a high alert at the areas ranging 10 km
from Kakarbhitta to prevent the bird flu from spreading, the minister for
information and communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara said. He added that
the government has also decided to direct the local administration to reuse
the equipment used in slitting the birds only after the sterilization process.
The meeting was held at the prime minister's office in Singhadurbar.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture is due to give more information on
the detection of bird flu in Kakarbhitta at a press conference at the ministry.
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Dan Silver
Nepal reports 1st H5N1 bird flu outbreak
----------------------------------------
Nepal said on Friday [16 Jan 2009] it had found the H5N1 bird flu in
poultry, the 1st time the deadly virus has surfaced in the Himalayan
nation, prompting culling operations in the country's south east. "The
virus has been found in chicken and ducks. We have confirmed it is H5N1
virus," agriculture minister Jai Prakash Prasad Gupta told Reuters.
Bird flu was reported in poultry from the crowded south east Nepal town of
Kakarvitta, bordering India, officials said. "We have declared that area
crisis-hit," said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, minister for communication and
information.
The epicentre of the outbreak is close to India's West Bengal state which
has been fighting to contain intermittent outbreaks of the virus in poultry
since last year [2008].
Hari Dahal, a Nepalese agriculture ministry spokesman, said no bird flu
symptoms had been noticed among people in the affected area. He said the
virus could have come from India.
Veterinary workers were sent to the region on Friday to cull 13 000 poultry
in 5 days to try to control the virus within a 3 km (1.8 miles) radius of
Kakarvitta town. "They have started killing all birds in the area," Gupta
said. "Since the outbreak in India, we were already alert."
Officials said they sent 7 dead birds for testing in a laboratory in London
after a dozen birds, all backyard poultry, died mysteriously in Kakarvitta
about a week back. "We got the confirmation today and are now seeking
international help to fight the outbreak," Gupta added.
Neighbouring India has culled millions of chicken and ducks to contain the
virus since its 1st outbreak in 2006, but has reported no human infections.
A senior Nepalese official said Nepal has asked India to help stop the
sneaking of poultry products into the Himalayan nation despite a ban
imposed after an outbreak of the virus in India's West Bengal.
According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 bird flu has infected more
than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the
virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.
[byline: Gopal Sharma, Krittivas Mukherjee]
--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Mary Marshall
[An interactive map, showing all worldwide HPAI reported outbreaks in
avians since Jan 2008, is available on OIE's WAHID website, at
(choose the terrestrial disease 'Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza'). By
zooming in to the clustered outbreaks in north east India, one can see the
close proximity of the recent outbreak in Darjeeling, West Bengal, to
Nepal's border. This can also be seen in the map included in India's last
follow-up report (13 Jan 2009), at
<http://www.oie.int/wahis/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=7675>.
- Mod.AS]
[see also:
Avian influenza (04): India (WB) 20090108.0080
Avian influenza (02): India (WB) 20090104.0034
Avian influenza (01): India (AS), Viet Nam 20090103.0023
2008
---
Avian influenza (132): India (AS) 20081231.4124
Avian influenza (120): India (WB) 20081217.3970
Avian influenza (118): China (HK), India (AS), OIE 20081215.3938 ]
Bird flu detected , Mechinagar-10 declared crisis zone
PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE KATHMANDU, Jan 16: The government has declared Mechinagar-10 area - where the first case of bird flu in Nepal has been detected- a crisis zone for three months in a bid to prevent any spread of the avian influenza to other parts of the country.
A meeting of the council of ministers held on Friday took the decision after the OIE Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, UK informed Nepali officials that six out of seven samples collected from a small farm in Mechi Municipality of Jhapa tested positive for H5N1, the bird flu strain that can spread from birds to humans.
“The cabinet has declared a Bird Flu Crisis Zone within a three kilometer radius bordering the Mechi river, Mechi municipality building in the west, Satighatta in the south and peripheral areas as an immediate measure to rein in the fatal disease, bearing in mind the sensitivity of the situation” Tek Bahadur Thapa, secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) told a press conference. A 10km radius around the flashpoint will be kept under active surveillance. Officials have claimed that the bird flu virus will be eliminated from the area within a month.
SecretaryThapa also informed that all poultry products and related materials within the crisis zone will be immediately destroyed along with a ban on the rearing, distribution, processing, use and transport of those items for three months.
“We will start culling an estimated 13,000 chickens being reared in the affected zone from Saturday and the process will be completed within five days,” said Prabhakar Pathak, director general of the Department of Livestock which is closely watching the situation across the country. Thirteen Rapid Response Teams comprising 65 technicians, experts and medicos will be mobilized through a focal mission office based in Jhapa.
The government had sent samples of chicken for further testing in the sophisticated UK laboratory 10 days ago after the samples tested positive at the central laboratory at Tripureswore , Kathmandu. The government had sent the samples to the UK for diagnosis at the internationally accredited laboratory, as per the international protocol.
According to Pathak, the Rapid Response Teams will carry out mopping up operations at chicken farms after sealing off the area.
In a bid to save the poultry sector in which more than Rs 16 billion has been invested so far, the government has imposed restrictions on the transport of poultry products and related materials out of the area.
According to data from the Poultry Entrepreneurs’ Forum, a poultry lobby, about 56.15 million broiler chickens and 3 million layers are produced annually by more than 2,500 poultry farm across the country. The annual egg production in the country stood at around 714.6 million pieces in fiscal year 2007/8 while chicken meat output was 58,315 tons. Poultry accounts for 4 percent of the GDP and the sector employs more than 65,000 people.
Other places apart from crisis zone safe
SANGEETA RIJAL
KATHMANDU, Jan 16: Areas away from three kilometers radius from the affected areas is safe to use poultry products. Speaking at the press conference Dr Manas Kumar Banarjee, coordinator of Avian Influenza Control Project said that the transmission of the flu to the human body is rare incidents. "People in other parts can eat poultry products," he said.
He also said that the government has developed its own lab to deal with the flu if it transmits to human body. According to Dr Banarjee the people if get infected will develop sever fever and respiratory problem. However, only the people who have come in contact to the dead chickens, those who come in contact to the people who died of sever pneumonia in the area in recent days would come to the risk group. Chickens dropping transmits virus to human.
The ministry has also prepared a medical team to carry out regular medical examination of 65 people who will tackle with the chickens in the affected area. "All the health workers in the area have been trained about the flu," he said.
At present the Ministry of Health and Population will use B. P. Koirala Health Sciences as referral hospital in Eastern region, while Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu will be the referral hospital in Kathmandu.
Dr Banarjee also said that about 260 people in 14 countries in the world have died of the infection.
Participants at the program were served with the chickens.
According to World Health Organization Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease occurs worldwide. While all birds are thought to be susceptible to infection with avian influenza viruses, many wild bird species carry these viruses with no apparent signs of harm.
WHO website further says the outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza that began in south-east Asia in mid-2003 and have now spread to a few parts of Europe, are the largest and most severe on record. To date, nine Asian countries have reported outbreaks (listed in order of reporting): the Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Indonesia, China, and Malaysia.
Prabhakar Pathak, a government official, points out the area where bird flu has been detected during a news conference in Kathmandu yesterday
KATHMANDU: Nepal said yesterday it had found the H5N1 bird flu in poultry, the first time the deadly virus has surfaced in the Himalayan nation, prompting culling operations in the country’s southeast.
“The virus has been found in chicken and ducks. We have confirmed it is H5N1 virus,” agriculture minister Jai Prakash Prasad Gupta said.
Bird flu was reported in poultry from the crowded southeast Nepal town of Kakarvitta, bordering India, officials said.
“We have declared that area crisis-hit,” said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, minister for communication and
information.
The epicentre of the outbreak is close to India’s West Bengal state which has been fighting to contain intermittent outbreaks of the virus in poultry since last year.
Hari Dahal, a Nepalese agriculture ministry spokesman, said no bird flu symptoms had been noticed among people in the affected area. He said the virus could have come from India.
Veterinary workers were sent to the region yesterday to cull 13,000 poultry in five days to try to control the virus within a 3km (1.8 miles) radius of Kakarvitta town.
“They have started killing all birds in the area,” Gupta said. “Since the outbreak in India, we were already alert.”
Officials said they sent seven dead birds for testing in a laboratory in London after a dozen birds, all backyard poultry, died mysteriously in Kakarvitta about a week back.
“We got the confirmation today and are now seeking international help to fight the outbreak,” Gupta added.
Neighbouring India has culled millions of chicken and ducks to contain the virus since its first outbreak in 2006, but has reported no human
infections.
A senior Nepalese official said Nepal has asked India to help stop the sneaking of poultry products into the Himalayan nation despite a ban imposed after an outbreak of the virus in India’s West Bengal.
Experts have warned the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.
The virus does not infect people easily now but continues to pop up in flocks of birds in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and could mutate into a form that passes from one person to another.
According to the World Health Organisation, H5N1 bird flu has infected more than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003. – Reuters
News Desk
The Kathmandu Post
Publication Date: 17-01-2009
Nepal's government confirmed on Friday (January 16) the outbreak of Bird Flu (H5N1) virus in the Himalayan country.
The tests done in Nepal Central Veterinary Laboratory and UK’s OIE Reference Laboratory, Weybridge detected the avian virus in six out of every seven chicken brought from Mechi Municipality-10 quarantine office in Kakadbhitta, the ministry of agriculture and cooperatives said in a press release.
The Cabinet has declared the area within the range of 3 km from the quarantine office “Bird Flu Emergency Area”.
The government took the decision as per the Natural Calamity (Relief) Act.
The Emergency Area includes areas within Mechi River in the east, Mechinagar Municipality building in the west, Nakkalbanda in the north and Shatighatta in the south.
As per the government decision, all the birds, avian-related substances, materials for poultry production and other concerning equipment, except those which can be sterilised, will be destroyed.
Nobody will be allowed to farm, transfer, produce, refine, sell, purchase and consume poultry-related materials until the emergency declaration is withdrawn.
The rightful owners of the fowls and concerning materials, if destroyed, will be compensated as per the Bird Flu Control Decree.
Informing about initiating immediate action to control and wipe out the outbreak, the ministry said it has preliminarily estimated that the virus can be eliminated within one month from the Emergency Area.
The department of livestock services has been directed to arrange active surveillance at the areas ranging 10 kms from Kakarbhitta to prevent the bird flu from spreading, minister for information and communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.
Nepal had managed to remain unscathed by the avian virus even after it was traced in neighbouring villages in India.
Veterinary workers were sent to the region yesterday to cull 13,000 poultry in five days to try to control the virus within a 3km (1.8 miles) radius of Kakarvitta town.
I have the center of Kakarvitta (Kakarbhitta) at 26.646429, 88.155055.
Nepal steps up culling in first bird flu outbreak
Updated at: 1055 PST, Saturday, January 17, 2009
KATHMANDU: Dozens of veterinary workers in protective suits descended on a town in east Nepal on Saturday to intensify culling of poultry to prevent the spread of bird flu after the H5N1 virus was first detected in the Himalayan nation.
"Teams with safety masks, head covers, body gowns, shoes, gloves and goggles have already been sent and they will intensify culling today or tomorrow," said Prabhakar Pathak, chief of the department of livestock services in Kathmandu on Saturday.
Bird flu was detected in chickens and ducks in the densely populated town of Kakarvitta, 275 km (172 miles), southeast of capital Kathmandu, authorities said on Friday.
About 13,000 poultry would be culled in five days to control the virus within a 3 km radius of the town, and the government would pay up to $5 for each chicken or duck that is culled, Pathak said.
Nepal steps up culling in first bird flu outbreak
17 Jan 2009 04:52:51 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Dozens of veterinary workers in protective suits descended on a town in east Nepal on Saturday to intensify culling of poultry to prevent the spread of bird flu after the H5N1 virus was first detected in the Himalayan nation.
"Teams with safety masks, head covers, body gowns, shoes, gloves and goggles have already been sent and they will intensify culling today or tomorrow," said Prabhakar Pathak, chief of the department of livestock services in Kathmandu on Saturday.
Bird flu was detected in chickens and ducks in the densely populated town of Kakarvitta, 275 km (172 miles), southeast of capital Kathmandu, authorities said on Friday, piling on problems for the Maoist-led government in the impoverished country.
The government, formed after the former Maoist guerrillas won the election in April last year, is already struggling with an acute shortage of electricity in the midst of a harsh winter, prompting several anti-government protests.
About 13,000 poultry would be culled in five days to control the virus within a 3 km radius of the town, and the government would pay up to $5 for each chicken or duck that is culled, Pathak said.
Flu symptoms had not been seen among people in the affected area yet, authorities have said.
"The outbreak is limited to one place and we have banned the movement of any poultry and products from there," Pathak said.
According to the World Health Organization, the H5N1 bird flu has infected more than 390 people in 15 countries and killed at least 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.
The epicentre of Nepal's outbreak is close to India's West Bengal state which has been fighting to contain intermittent outbreaks of the virus in poultry since last year.
India has culled millions of chickens and ducks to contain the virus since the first outbreak in 2006, but has reported no human infections. (Editing by Rina Chandran and Valerie Lee) (For the latest Reuters news on Nepal see: http://in.reuters.com, for blogs see http://blogs.reuters.com/in/)
Nepal asks for India's help to control spread of bird flu
17 Jan 2009, 1335 hrs IST, PTI
KATHMANDU: Kathmandu has sought New Delhi's help to control spread of bird flu and asked India to stop the export of poultry products after the outbreak of the disease was confirmed in the eastern Nepal's Mechinagar Municipality bordering West Bengal.
During a meeting with Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood on Friday, Prime Minister Prachanda sought India's help for controlling spread of the disease, the embassy spokesman Chhiring W Sherpa said.
Sherpa told PTI that they also discussed a wide range of issues of mutual interest.
Matters relating to controlling bird flu and providing additional hydro electric power to Nepal, which is currently facing acute power shortage, were the key issues which figured during the talks, officials said.
They said that Nepal had also asked India to stop the export of chickens and other poultry products.
As 11 chickens died in Ward No 10 of Mechinagar Municipality near Kakarbhitta, samples of chickens were sent to OIE, Reference Laboratory, Weybridge, UK on January 11, which tested positive, the officials said.
Nepali gov't declares country "bird flu affected"
+ - 11:48, January 17, 2009
Nepali government on Friday has declared Nepal as a "bird flu affected country", local news website myrepublica.com reported.
An emergency meeting of the cabinet held on Friday afternoon in Nepali capital Kathmandu has decided to exterminate all birds in the areas three kilometers from the Nepal-India border at Kakarvitta in Jhapa district, some 320 km southeast of Nepali capital Kathmandu.
According to the report, Nepali Minister for Tourism, Hisila Yami said that the government has decided to expedite surveillance in the areas 10 km from the Kakarvitta border.
The decision was made after the Avian Influenza had been detected in six out of seven samples of birds brought to Nepal from India.
The Cabinet meeting has also decided to be high alert at the areas around 10 km from Kakarvitta to prevent the bird flu from spreading.
Earlier, a meeting of the avian flu experts and government officials had also decided to deploy a central team to Jhapa district in eastern Nepal to take necessary measures to avoid the outbreak of the disease across the country.
Source:Xinhua
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Nepal - bird flu in poultry/animals/wild birds
Re: Bird flu detected in Nepal
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