Health ministry deploys team to Kerala to check avian influenza outbreak

The Union health ministry has deployed a high-level team to Kerala to take stock of the avian influenza outbreak in the state.

The team will investigate the outbreak in detail and submit a report with recommendations, the ministry said in a statement.

The seven-member central team to Kerala comprises experts drawn from the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi; the National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi; the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai; and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

The team is headed by Dr Rajesh Kedamani, Sr RD, Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare, Bangalore.

The team will also assist the state health departments in terms of public health measures, management guidelines and protocols to manage the increasing cases of avian influenza being reported by the state, the statement added.

With the outbreak of avian influenza confirmed among ducks in Kerala's Alappuzha district, authorities on Thursday began operations to cull over 20,000 birds in Vazhuthanam ward in Haripad Municipality to check spread of the disease.

The presence of the infection was confirmed after the samples of dead birds were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for examination.