Bird Flu outbreak in India's northeastern state of Tripura
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
India-Tripura-Bird Flu
Indian authorities Monday confirmed a bird flu outbreak in the northeastern state of Tripura with veterinary workers ordered to slaughter an estimated 20,000 birds, officials said.
"We have received a report from the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal preliminary confirming bird flu," Aghore Debbarma, Tripura's agriculture and animal resource development department (ARDD), said by telephone.
Health workers in remote Tripura were put on maximum alert after laboratory tests confirmed of avian influenza that led to the death of about 3,000 birds in the past week in the Kamalpur area in Dhallai, 180 kilometers (112 miles) north of state capital Agartala.
"We are taking adequate preventive steps to ensure that the virus does not spread. Culling operations involving about 100 personnel would begin from Tuesday," the minister said.
Culling of poultry, including chicken and ducks, would be carried out within a radius of five km of the bird flu affected Mohanpur village in Dhallai district.
"Movement of vehicles to and from these villages have been restricted and sale and consumption of poultry in the district has been banned," a senior government official said.
Health workers, meanwhile, were keeping a sharp eye out for people with flu-like symptoms, he added.
India reported a confirmed outbreak of bird flu earlier this year in West Bengal state, which also borders Bangladesh.
West Bengal had briefly contained the outbreak that came to light in January by slaughtering about four million birds but the virus resurfaced last month causing authorities to order a fresh cull.
India, which reported its first outbreak of avian flu in 2006 in western Maharashtra state, has not reported any human infections so far.
Health experts however fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic.
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