Bird flu: 60,000 chickens culled in Telangana in two days

Another 150,000 chickens to be culled in next 2-3 days, all five farms in one-km radius of infected area to bear impact

Around 60,000 chicken have been culled in Telangana so far following the detection of first case of H1N5 (bird flu) in the state.

Stating this, officials of the state Animal Husbandry department told Business Standard close to 150,000 chicken had been identified for culling in the next two-three days in Rangareddy district.

“Culling will be carried out in all the five farms within the one-km radius area declared as infection zone. We have also placed the 10-km radius around the infected zone under surveillance,” said D Venkateswarlu, director of Animal Husbandry.

He said the department had formed 65 teams for culling operations, with each team comprising four to five workers, and headed by a senior veterinarian.

Soon after detecting a bird flu case at Thorrur village near here, the official machinery from the state and the Centre pitched in to understand the ground situation. A central rapid response team comprising avian influenza specialists arrived here today to oversee the culling operations.

The officials said the outbreak came to light after the sudden death of chicken in Srinivasa Reddy Poultry Farm in Thorrur village last week, prompting them to send samples to a testing laboratory in Bhopal.

It is learnt all the 11 samples from the farm tested positive for H1N5 avian influenza.

Animal husbandry additional director Y Thirupathiah, however, said there was no need to panic as samples from only one farm had tested positive. “We are collecting samples from other farms in the neighbouring areas,” he said.

He said only those working in infected poultry farms could be at risk of contracting bird flu, adding they were procuring enough doses of tamiflu tablets for supply in the infected zone.

He clarified the virus does not spread through chicken if cooked well, ie above 70 degree temperature. According to health officials, symptoms of bird flu are similar to swine flu.

Meanwhile, with the outbreak of the disease, Andhra Pradesh has banned entry of all poultry products into its territory. The Telangana Poultry Breeders Association said the decision could result in a daily loss of Rs 25-30 crore for poultry farms in the state.

Poultry marketer Suguna Foods in a statement expelled concerns and said broiler chickens hatched, grown and governed in a controlled environment under high biological safety standards were safe from bird flu infection.

It must be noted that since 2003 there had been 400 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain. In India, the virus was first detected in Maharashtra in 2006, and the last outbreak occurred in Kerala early this year.