From rxpgnews.com
Culling operations halted in bird flu epicentre
By IANS,
Jan 17, 2008 - 10:49:11 AM
Kolkata, Jan 17 - Culling of poultry at the epicentre of West Bengal's bird flu epidemic was halted Thursday morning, as officials sent dead poultry from a new area to confirm if these had also been infected by the deadly H5N1 strain of the flu virus.
Workers of the state health department halted the cull after one of them alleged that policemen had assaulted him in Rampurhat area of Birbhum district, a local television channel reported.
Even before this incident in the middle of a situation where experts say quick culling is essential to prevent spread of the disease, the cull had been slothful.
West Bengal Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahman told IANS Thursday morning that 8,000 birds had been culled in Birbhum district since the operation started Wednesday, and 10,000 in Balurghat area of South Dinajpur district.
'The process is slothful because the teams are not going to big farms but visiting house to house and killing backyard poultry. We are beefing up the operation on Thursday,' Rahman added.
The minister admitted that bird flu has spread to new areas in Birbhum district and adjoining Murshidabad district. The three districts now affected are Birbhum, South Dinajpur and Murshidabad.
'The new areas are Khargram in Murshidabad and two blocks and Rampurhat municipality area of Birbhum,' Rahman said. The officials have however not yet confirmed if the bird flu virus in Murshidabad is of the H5N1 strain. They have sent samples to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory - in Bhopal for confirmation.
As a result, no culling has started in Murshidabad district yet. The affected areas in the district abut Birbhum district.
A bird flu scare has also spread to South 24 Parganas district adjoining Kolkata besides other south Bengal districts like Nadia and Burdwan from where reports of poultry deaths poured in.
Culling began Wednesday morning for killing an estimated 378,000 chickens and ducks while the state's poultry owners urged people not to panic but to treat chickens as complete untouchables.
According to the magistrates of Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts, the toll of poultry birds from the disease in the two districts rose to 55,000 in the past two weeks.
To carry out the culling, masked men in protective gear appeared like aliens in many areas where awareness about the disease is almost nil.
'We have cooked and eaten our chickens because we heard they would have been killed by the government officials anyway. We have not heard much about the symptoms of the disease,' said Lakhu Sheikh of Tentulia village in Rampurhat block 2 in Birbhum, about 250 km from Kolkata.
Tentulia is one of the villages where people resisted culling Wednesday.
Many villagers are also smuggling out their poultry and hiding them, health workers said.
A central health ministry team, including its additional director general and the joint secretary, is arriving in Kolkata later Thursday to ascertain the situation and hold talks with the state health officials, Rahman said.
While in some villages there is resistance, in most areas people brought hens, ducks and eggs and collected compensation slips at the rate of Rs.40 per big hen and duck and Rs.30 each for the smaller ones.
Officials said in the worst affected Birbhum district, about 55 awareness teams were formed to both inform the people about bird flu and identify the sick birds.
Control rooms have been set up in each block of the affected regions under the supervision of Additional Chief Secretary of West Bengal Kalyan Bagchi and Animal Resource Development Director Dilip Das.
The border with Bangladesh has been sealed in the affected areas, especially in South Dinajpur district, which shares a long border with the neighbouring country.
As the news about the deadly avian flu spread, prices and demand for chickens nose-dived in Kolkata markets.
West Bengal Poultry Welfare Association assistant secretary Najrul Islam told IANS that poultry farm owners would hold a press conference with the animal resources development minister to make the people aware and dispel unfounded apprehensions.
'We are also taking care so that the infection does not spread any further. We are also providing medication and trying to disinfect the poultry farms,' Islam said.
West Bengal is the fifth state in the country to have been struck by the H5N1 strain of bird flu since the first outbreak in Maharashtra in February 2006, and others in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Manipur.
In Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, about a million birds had to be culled in 2006 after the presence of the H5N1 virus was confirmed.
The virus causes a type of influenza in birds that is highly contagious and can be deadly. It does not usually infect people unless they come in close contact with infected birds or contaminated surfaces.
Avian influenza experts said speed in extinguishing the outbreak is crucial. The state government would need to prevent the movement of poultry out of the affected area, they stressed.
The World Health Organisation - had last year declared India 'free from bird flu' after the culling of a large number of birds and other preventive measures.
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