Bird flu in Amethi: Centre asks UP for daily report

Nearly 190 birds died of the virus in a village in Amethi after the outbreak was first reported few days ago from a farm

A day after India officially informed the Paris-based Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) of an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus in the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, the Union agriculture ministry directed the state to intensify surveillance to monitor further spread of the virus.

Uttar Pradesh has been asked to formally notify the disease outbreak for control and containment measures according to action plan on Avian Influenza, an official statement said on Thursday. It has also been asked to send the requisite information, including provisional poultry population, number and names of the villages in a 1-10 km radii from the epicentre.

A daily report on the control and containment operations has to be furnished to department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, the statement said.

Nearly 190 birds died of the virus in a village in Amethi after the outbreak was first reported a few days ago from a farm.

A place is considered officially impacted by bird flu when the respective government notifies to OIE as a mandatory practice in recent days, the Uttar Pradesh government has culled hundreds of hens, ducks and pigeons in Amethi, to stop the spread of the disease. The state has also formed 10 teams which are visiting the affected villages to cull the infected birds.

The first instance of bird flu was found in Maharashtra. Since, then the disease has hit several other parts of the country as well. The last bird flu attack was in Kerala in November 2014.

Highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu first infected humans in 1997 in Hong Kong. It has since spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in some countries.