E-Paper
Ground Zero quarantined, tests on
To stop the spread of bird flu among poultry, a 3-km radius around the infected farms at Navapur village in Nandurbar (Maharashtra) has been cordoned off and all transport and trading of poultry has been banned in the area.
To stop the spread of bird flu among poultry, a 3-km radius around the infected farms at Navapur village in Nandurbar (Maharashtra) has been cordoned off and all transport and trading of poultry has been banned in the area.
The population from the area's 19 villages is under the strict surveillance of medical experts. A door-to-door survey is being conducted for any flu symptoms and an isolation ward has been set up at Navapur to treat any suspected bird flu case.
Livestock department officials began beheading and gassing thousands of chickens, ducks and turkeys in the infected area on Sunday. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said in Mumbai that nine lakh affected birds were being slaughtered to stop spread of the disease.
No further poultry deaths have reported from the surrounding districts. ‘Culling’ operations also carried out at four poultry farms in the Uchchhal area of Surat, close to Nadurbar.
Meanwhile, initial findings indicate the 1,000 chickens that died in Etawah were suffering from bacterial infection due to unhygienic conditions -- and not bird flu, which is caused by a virus. Still, samples from the farm are being sent to Bhopal to rule out bird flu completely.
The 126 samples sent to Bhopal from West Bengal last week were part of routine surveillance, and not sent on suspicion of bird flu.
