Asia ReView

Manoj Anand

If migratory birds were centre attractions for the tourists in Assam, this time they have brought disaster with them. The health ministry has confirmed that it was migratory birds who brought this deadly bird flu to Assam.

The Assam government has not only started culling operations, but also formed teams of experts to keep a close watch on inter-country bird movements.

The Assam health officials said: "We are taking measures to control it, and let me assure that everything is under control. A team from the central health ministry has also arrived and is helping authorities in culling the poultry."

The outbreak of bird flu has come as a big setback to the health ministry also as barely three weeks before India had declared itself to be free from the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu).

However, India has re-notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about the outbreak of the disease and has lost its bird flu-free status. A country has to be completely free from the disease for at least three months to be notified as such.

Samples from Rajabazar village in Assam tested positive for H5 strain of Avian Influenza at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal on November 27. Since then more than 20 Rapid Action Teams are deployed in the area to undertake the culling operations.

The health ministry was also extending all possible help to the Assam government in terms of human resource, medicine, masks and other preventive measures.

The culling of ducks and chicken is being carried out in 48 villages within a 5 km radius of village Thakurchuba in Kamrup district, about 40 km west of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

The Assam health authorities, however, clarified that there was no need to panic. "Winter is a favourable period for the spread of bird flu as these migratory birds come southwards (to India) from other countries. The movement of these migratory birds cannot be stopped completely."

India has witnessed several outbreak of bird flu earlier in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and a few North-eastern states.

"So far, nearly 40,000 chickens and ducks have been killed and the operation is still on in the district of Kamrup since Friday," said deputy director of the Assam veterinary department Manoranjan Choudhury. Culling is being carried out in as many as 48 villages that lie within the radius of 5 kilometers of village Thakurchuba in Kamrup district.

The outbreak of bird flu was confirmed by the health ministry last week soon after the laboratory tests found strains of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza. A pandemic will be spread if the H5N1 strain mutates in the human beings. World Health Organisation has also expressed its concern over the situation.

The virus has already taken a toll of more than 300 birds in the area. With veterinarians carrying out checks on all poultry farms, Assam’s veterinary and animal husbandry department has announced an alert. The authorities are also maintaining a strict surveillance on all farms in the state.

An alert has also been sounded in some new areas of the districts as avian flu has been detected in fresh areas.

The death of chickens was reported from the Bogri and Kachumara areas, prompting the district administrations to ban purchase and sale of eggs. Over a hundred birds were found dead at the Bongra and Kachumara areas from where samples had been collected and sent to the laboratories in Bhopal and Pune, Kamrup (rural) deputy commissioner R.C. Jain said.

The alert has been sounded as a precautionary measure as the avian disease is suspected to be spreading to fresh areas of Sarpara, Rangamati, Bongra and Kachuniapra villages.

The Karmup (metro) district administration has also imposed a ban on movement of birds and eggs from the affected areas as well as from the nearby markets at Mirza and Plashbari in the outskirts of the city.

In the Kamrup (rural) district, nearly 50,000 birds have been culled and another 30,000 will be culled in the next couple of days.