African Swine Fever detected in the North West
Zeerust in the North West has reportedly been hit by an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak. It was reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on Wednesday, according to the Department
Avian Flu
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Bird-flu risk in 6 districts
Avian Influenza Control Project has said six districts bordering India are at risk of bird flu. According to Dr Manas Kumar Banerjee, coordinator of Avian Influenza Control Project of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under Ministry of Health and Population, Jhapa, Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung, Sunsari and Morang districts are at risk of the flu. "There is embargo on the import of poultry items but despite the ban, items like white eggs which are found only in India are also found in the local market of the mentioned districts," said Dr Banerjee.
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Child infected with bird flu virus cured
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) yesterday said a child was infected with the deadly H5N1, the strain of bird flu that infects people, in January this year and was cured before diagnosis. The DGHS, as part of its routine surveillance, sent a swab with samples from naso-pharyngeal of the 16-month-old boy to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta which confirmed the H5N1 infection Wednesday.
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Filthy farms cause for bird flu: PETA
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Mumbai, today linked bird flu in Tripura to unhygienic condition of chicken and egg farms. This comes at a time when the State Government has blamed Bangladesh for the spread of the H5N1 virus through unchecked poultry movement from across the border. PETA officials here said besides Tripura, they had issued general warning to every State in India early this year about filthy condition in poultry farms after conducting a random survey and cautioned that it could lead to spread of the flu virus.
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States bordering B'desh vulnerable to bird flu
Indian States bordering Bangladesh have become vulnerable to bird flu with the country continuing to be a breeding ground for the disease, officials here said on Monday. "Forty-seven of the 64 districts in Bangladesh are hit by bird flu. With the authorities failing to control the disease and no efforts at checking smuggling of poultry and poultry products, bordering Indian States are becoming vulnerable to avian influenza,' said Ashish Roy Burman, Director of Tripura's Animal Resource Development (ARD) Department.
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Tripura seeks to stop poultry movement from B'desh
The Tripura Government has asked the External Affairs Ministry to take up the issue of unchecked poultry movement from Bangladesh to bordering villages of Tripura, where incidents of bird flu were increasing. State Animal Resource Development Minister Aghor Debbarma here today said there were reports of poultry movement from across the border and since most of the area in Bangladesh had already been affected by the H5N1 virus, it increased the risk of flu spread.
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Culling in hills to start from Sunday
The Darjeeling district administration has decided to start culling in the Bijanbari-Pulbazar area, where the outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed, from Sunday. District magistrate Rajesh Pandey today held a meeting with other officials to work out the logistics of the operations.
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Authorities ask people to be alert about 'bird flu'
Authorities ask people to be alert about 'bird flu' The authorities have appealed to the general public to apply maximum caution to prevent the entry of 'bird flu,' which has been detected in bordering Indian region. Issuing a notice, Saturday, the Department for Livestock Service has said that recently the disease has been detected in Darjeeling and Kurseong region of India, which borders with eastern Nepal. It has urged the poultry traders, farmers, and general public not to bring in birds from across the border, which the government has already banned.
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PPA demands reforms in poultry sector
To ensure revival of poultry sector and to meet the requirements of poultry meat and eggs, the Pakistan Poultry Association has urged the government to immediately undertake policy reforms in poultry sector. The PPA has warned that failure would cause a huge loss to the sector. Chairperson of PPA, Abdul Basit, while giving recommendations for budget 2008, said that the poultry industry bore huge loss of Rs 30.000 billion to Rs 35.000 billion during the 2006-07 due to bird flu rumours.
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Indonesia to share info on bird flu
Indonesia's health minister said today she would start sharing all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus with a new global database to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a dangerous pandemic strain. China, Russia and other nations, that have long withheld influenza virus samples and DNA sequencing data from international databases, are also taking part in the initiative.
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20,000 birds culled in Bengal
Culling of chicken which began in two blocks of Siliguri and one block of Kurseong in birdflu-affected Darjeeling district will continue for another two days, Darjeeling district magistrate Rajesh Pandey said. A total of 20,298 birds were culled in the blocks since May 10, he said. Few thousands were yet to be killed due to non-cooperation in a few villages, he said. It was decided at an emergency meeting on Wednesday that the mopping drive which began on Wednesday would also continue, officials said.