Bird flu outbreak in Maharashtra, confirms central laboratory

The National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, a nodal body for testing bird flu cases, has confirmed that the cause of death of poultry birds (chicken) in Parbhani district is bird flu or avian influenza. Maharashtra has become the eighth state to have been affected by bird flu.

The National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, a nodal body for testing bird flu cases, has confirmed that the cause of death of poultry birds (chicken) in Parbhani district is bird flu or avian influenza. Maharashtra has become the eighth state to have been affected by bird flu.

Following the guidelines issued by the Central government, the state will have to start culling poultry birds within one km radius of the infected zone in Parbhani district. (/HT PHOTO)

The central laboratory has confirmed to the state animal husbandry department that the poultry birds died owing to H5N1 virus, the most common strain of the virus that causes severe respiratory diseases in birds. State animal husbandry commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh confirmed the development.

On Friday, around 800 poultry birds (chicken) and two herons were found dead in Parbhani district of central Maharashtra and their samples were sent to NIHSAD the same day to ascertain the cause of death. Dapoli in Ratnagiri district and Beed district in central Maharashtra, too, had reported deaths of six and 11 crows respectively.

“Following the guidelines issued by the Central government, we will have to start culling poultry birds within one km radius of the infected zone in Parbhani district,” said a senior official from animal husbandry department, requesting anonymity. In addition, the area from 1 km to 10 km will be declared as ‘surveillance zone’, he added.

“We are still awaiting detailed reports from NIHSAD which could give us clarity on the possibility of the presence of H5N8, which may have caused the bird deaths in other districts too,” said another official from the department.

This is second time that Maharashtra is affected by bird flu in the past two decades. Last time, H5N1 outbreak was reported in Navapur village of Nandurkar district in 2006.

On Sunday, 160 more birds were found dead in several districts of the state. Of them, 43 and 40 poultry birds were found dead in Parbhani and Latur districts, respectively. In addition, 50 parrots in Nagpur, 29 poultry birds in Amravati, etc, were found dead and their samples were sent to NIHSAD for testing to find out the cause of death, stated a release issued by the animal husbandry department on Sunday.

On Saturday, around 200 poultry birds in Latur district, one crow in Akola, two crows each in Gondia and Chandrapur, one heron in Thane and three crows in Dapoli at Ratnagiri district were found dead.

Four days ago, 15 pond egrets, two parrots were found dead in Thane and three crows were found dead in Mumbai and test reports of primary investigation conducted at Western Regional Disease Diagnostic laboratory (WRDDL) Pune had come negative.

Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat have been other states confirmed to have affected of the bird flu.