A central team that took stock of the situation in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi after a bird flu outbreak expressed "satisfaction over the protocol and standard operating procedures followed by the state government" to contain the spread of the disease, an official said on Friday.
Ninety-six birds were culled, and 5,320 eggs were destroyed in the epicentre of the outbreak here, State Animal Husbandry Director Chandan Kumar told PTI. The outbreak was reported on March 3 in Ranchi, barely a week after the spread of the bird flu disease in Bokaro district led to the culling of 4,000 chickens and ducks.
"The central team took stock of the situation and visited the burial site of the poultry. They expressed satisfaction over the protocol and standard operating procedures followed by the state," Kumar said.He said 4,882 eggs were destroyed at the epicentre on Friday.
H5N1, a type of avian influenza virus, was confirmed among poultry near Jail More under the jurisdiction of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.The Centre, in a letter to Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh on March 3, confirmed the outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) in poultry in Ranchi, directing the state government for its control and containment.
The letter from the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying read, "The samples from the said epicentre (Jail More, Ranchi Municipal Corporation) were sent...to the ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal which confirmed on March 3, 2023, that samples are found positive for H5N1 avian influenza".
The state government has been asked to take immediate measures, including the declaration of infected and surveillance areas, restricting access to infected premises and culling of birds. Officials had instructed the culling of birds by declaring areas within the 1-km radius of the epicentre as the 'affected' zones.
An area within a 10-km radius would be declared as a 'surveillance' zone. In February, 3,856 birds were culled in Bokaro district after the confirmation of a bird flu outbreak among 'Kadaknath' chicken, a variety of the protein-rich breed.
Symptoms of the infection among humans include severe upper back pain, fever, cough, shortness of breath, and blood in sputum, officials said. The state Animal Husbandry Department has issued an advisory, urging people to inform it if they see dead birds.
