Three bird flu outbreaks in last seven days

Three bird flu outbreaks in last seven days

KATHMANDU, May 21: The rapid response team comprising vet officials and technicians on Monday evening culled 475 chickens and 335 ducks following confirmation of bird flu virus in a poultry farm owned by Santosh Chaudhary of Dhapasi-6, Kathmandu. 

The team deployed by the Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) had also destroyed 200 kg chicken feed stored in farm. The vet technicians had also destroyed droppings and disinfected the farm by late night. 

Officials at DoAH said the latest outbreak is the third over the last seven days. Earlier this week, bird flu had been detected in a poultry farm of Amar Karki of Mulpani VDC-3, where 1,465 chickens were culled. Likewise, on last Wednesday the vet officials culled 200 chickens in a poultry farm owned by Bhim Prasad Lamichhane of Kritipur-1 Tyanglaphat, Kathmandu after confirmation of bird flu outbreak.

In the last nine months alone, avian influenza (H5N1-virus) has been detected in 52 poultry farms across the country, said DoAH officials. They said that the country has witnessed 75 bird flu outbreaks since 2009 and 170,000 chickens have been culled so far. According to DoAH, these outbreaks had been detected in Jhapa, Taplejung, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Dhading, Nuwakot, Chitwan, Rupandehi, Kaski, Nawalparasi, Kailali and Kathmandu.

“Poultry farmers suffered losses worth millions of rupees and may of them have even given up poultry farming,” said Director General of DoAH Nara Bahadur Rajwar. He said the directorate has yet to pay over Rs 13.4 million in relief to the poultry farmers. Rajwar said that the directorate has sought budget from the government to compensate the farmers. 

DoAH has also asked poultry farmers to get their poultry farm insured. It has said that the government would provide five percent of the total losses in compensation. 

“If the poultry farms are insured, the insurance company would pay them for the dead chickens while the government will pay them for the culled chickens,” said Bijaya Kant Jha, program director, Avian Influenza Control Program, DoAH. He informed that the office has formed a team to study viability of using vaccine against bird flu. Poultry farmers have been pressing the government to allow them to import the vaccine. 

Meanwhile, DoAH has urged all poultry farmers to take proper care of their chickens. The office has urged poultry farmers to immediately inform vet officials if chickens start demonstrating suspicious behavior. Chickens infected with bird flu virus avoid feed, stand still with their head down and drool.
Source: Republica
Published on 2013-05-22 02:28:12