Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Situation under control
3D action does the trick
Bird Flu 28 March, 2010 - After culling 4,683 birds, disposing 778 eggs and burning and dismantling 533 coops between February 13 and March 25, the bird flu situation is finally under control.
Livestock department?s regional veterinary officials said the government paid about Nu 626,881 to poultry owners as compensation.
They said this conclusion was drawn after gewogs under Sampheling and Phuentsholing recorded no more poultry deaths.
?The outbreak has been resolved in Phuentsholing and Pasakha,? livestock officials said.
The death of a poultry bird was first reported on February 13 this year, following bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, India. Eight chickens died and 14 tested positive in Phuenthsoling from tests conducted in Thailand and India.
The compensation for an adult bird was Nu 225, Nu 83 for young ones and day old chicks, Nu 6 an egg and Nu 200 for a coop livestock, officials said. Poultry owners were paid 75 percent of the market rate and the compensation was paid from 2007 World Bank bird flu project fund.
A team, comprising officials from livestock department, health, police and Bhutan agriculture and food regulatory authority (BAFRA), are carrying out the 3D action of depopulation, disposal and decontamination in affected areas.
Officials said the quarantine measures, like combing operations at Wangdigatshel and Ramitey, and special decontamination will continue at Kabreytar, Ramitey, Kamji, Sorchen and in town areas. Vehicle disinfection is also being carried out at Kamji and Singye bridge at Pasakha everyday.
?We?re combing out operations to make sure no poultry is there in affected places, as we have to make sure there are no hosts for virus,? regional veterinary officer Dr Basant Sharma said. ?We?ve also appointed focal persons in villages and provided them with mobile vouchers worth Nu 100 a week to instantly report to us any suspected cases or outbreak on a daily basis.?
Officials said fencing, signboard erection and surveillance will be done in areas, apart from the affected areas under Phuentsholing and Pasakha.
World Health Organisation reports said avian influenza was first identified in Italy in 1878. An infectious disease of birds, caused by type A strains of the influenza virus, the report stated it occurred worldwide. Human cases were reported in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
In humans, the report said it was still a rare disease, but a severe one that must be closely monitored and studied, for the virus?s potential of evolving into a pandemic.
Meanwhile, as veterinary officials are busy with the 3D operation in Phuentsholing, a possible rabies outbreak has been reported in Pasakha. A stray dog, showing signs of rabies, such as salivation, aggression and inclination to bite, died on March 25, a day after it was confined in a room.
?A laboratory test will be conducted soon to confirm it,? said Dr Basanth Sharma.
By Kinga Dema
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15021
3D action does the trick
Bird Flu 28 March, 2010 - After culling 4,683 birds, disposing 778 eggs and burning and dismantling 533 coops between February 13 and March 25, the bird flu situation is finally under control.
Livestock department?s regional veterinary officials said the government paid about Nu 626,881 to poultry owners as compensation.
They said this conclusion was drawn after gewogs under Sampheling and Phuentsholing recorded no more poultry deaths.
?The outbreak has been resolved in Phuentsholing and Pasakha,? livestock officials said.
The death of a poultry bird was first reported on February 13 this year, following bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, India. Eight chickens died and 14 tested positive in Phuenthsoling from tests conducted in Thailand and India.
The compensation for an adult bird was Nu 225, Nu 83 for young ones and day old chicks, Nu 6 an egg and Nu 200 for a coop livestock, officials said. Poultry owners were paid 75 percent of the market rate and the compensation was paid from 2007 World Bank bird flu project fund.
A team, comprising officials from livestock department, health, police and Bhutan agriculture and food regulatory authority (BAFRA), are carrying out the 3D action of depopulation, disposal and decontamination in affected areas.
Officials said the quarantine measures, like combing operations at Wangdigatshel and Ramitey, and special decontamination will continue at Kabreytar, Ramitey, Kamji, Sorchen and in town areas. Vehicle disinfection is also being carried out at Kamji and Singye bridge at Pasakha everyday.
?We?re combing out operations to make sure no poultry is there in affected places, as we have to make sure there are no hosts for virus,? regional veterinary officer Dr Basant Sharma said. ?We?ve also appointed focal persons in villages and provided them with mobile vouchers worth Nu 100 a week to instantly report to us any suspected cases or outbreak on a daily basis.?
Officials said fencing, signboard erection and surveillance will be done in areas, apart from the affected areas under Phuentsholing and Pasakha.
World Health Organisation reports said avian influenza was first identified in Italy in 1878. An infectious disease of birds, caused by type A strains of the influenza virus, the report stated it occurred worldwide. Human cases were reported in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
In humans, the report said it was still a rare disease, but a severe one that must be closely monitored and studied, for the virus?s potential of evolving into a pandemic.
Meanwhile, as veterinary officials are busy with the 3D operation in Phuentsholing, a possible rabies outbreak has been reported in Pasakha. A stray dog, showing signs of rabies, such as salivation, aggression and inclination to bite, died on March 25, a day after it was confined in a room.
?A laboratory test will be conducted soon to confirm it,? said Dr Basanth Sharma.
By Kinga Dema
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15021