Door-to-door check for bird flu in humans
Etawah
(Uttar Pradesh): Health Minister A Ramadoss said on
Monday that the Central Government would launch a door-
to-door check for people with fever in Maharashtra's Nandurbar
district. The world's second-most populous country, known
for its poor healthcare system, was testing about 30 people
for avian flu after 50,000 birds died in Maharashtra state's
Nandurbar district and tests on some fowls turned positive
for H5N1 virus. Amid fears that the disease could affect
humans, the government said on Sunday it had found no case
of human avian influenza after preliminary tests on a dead
farmer who was suspected to have been the country's first
human victim. Ramadoss said federal teams and volunteers
had fanned out in villages around 52 poultry farms in Nandurbar
and part of Gujarat to carry out a door-to-door check for
patients reporting fever, cough or cold.
An alert has also been sounded in northern Uttar Pradesh
where nearly 1400 birds have died in the Etawah region.
"The teams are in the field and assisting the state health
authorities in carrying out active surveillance i.e. house
to house search to identify contacts of infected poultry,"
Ramadoss told the Lower House of parliament in New Delhi.
India's biggest poultry firm, the Venketeswara Hatcheries,
meanwhile slammed the government for playing into the hands
of what they said was a multinational-fuelled fear psychosis.
The company said the government has acted in haste and not
verified the results adding it has test result to prove
the birds died of Raniked, a common poultry disease. "Without
understanding the consequences, we feel the government in
a haste have called this as Bird Flu. Now on our request
the minister has sent the samples to the UK and we are reasonably
sure it will come negative but in the process they have
created panic," K.G Anand, general manager of the group
said at their Hyderabad office. Indian exporters of poultry
say they are worried sales will suffer unless the government
acts immediately and reassures importing nations over food
safety.
Indian officials had announced its first cases of bird flu
and said eight people were being checked for the disease
after tests on poultry in Nandurbar district, about 450
km (280 miles) north of the country's financial capital
Mumbai, showed they were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.
Indian analysts as well have warned if the outbreak is not
contained, the economic costs to Asia's third-largest economy
-- which is forecast to grow around 8 percent in the financial
year to March 2006 -- would be "very, very high". The H5N1
virus is known to have infected 171 people worldwide since
late 2003, killing 93 of them. Two hundred million birds
across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa
have died of the virus or been culled. So far most victims
of bird flu have had direct or indirect contact with chickens,
but there are fears the virus might mutate into a strain
easily passed among people, causing a pandemic in which
millions could die.
States on guard as country battles to contain bird flu
Lucknow/Patna: Officials in Uttar Pradesh on Monday said
the State is free of Bird Flu after investigations on death
of 1600 chicken in a village poultry came out negative,
in what is a major reprieve for the country battling to
contain its first outbreak of the H5NI virus. "Right now
there is no such situation in our State. Every year a number
of poultry farms face natural deal of up to 10 percent of
the livestock. As you will know the situation in Etawah
where such deaths had occurred we had sent our special teams
there and the post mortem report of the bird do not show
Bird Flu," S.S Yadav, secretary of Animal Husbandry told
reporters in capital Lucknow. The chicken had died in Etawah
region sparking panic. Bihar also announced its preparedness
to tackle the flu adding extensive awareness campaign have
been launched to minimize panic and increase human safety.
"We have made all preparations to tackle any eventuality.
We are in constant touch with the Central Government but
there is no cause for worry in the State. The wave of panic
that has gone around the country has to be contained. I
appeal to the people not to panic. They just need to pay
heed to the directives and awareness messages being given
out through newspapers and report any suspected cases they
come to know of," Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of
Animal Husbandry of Bihar said in Patna. Three young children
with flu-like symptoms were hospitalised on Monday, joining
a woman and a child who were placed in an isolation ward
the previous day in the remote district of Nandurbar in
Maharashtra, the epicenter of the outbreak, About 30 more
people are being tested for avian flu though it had said
not a single case of bird flu infection or death in humans
has been reported.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister A.Ramadoss said that
the Central Government would launch a door-to-door check
for people with fever in Nandurbar District. Meanwhile,
poultry owners and retailers have been the worst hit as
domestic fowl prices fell up to 40 percent amid predictions
they were likely to remain depressed for a couple of weeks.
Ban of import by Pakistan and Nepal is adding to the crisis
"After the news broke, business has gone crashing. We've
not sold even 10 percent of what we normally sell. It's
pretty bad. People have doubts, they are afraid. All they
know is keep away from poultry even though they don't have
the full picture," said Zain- il Abeddin, a poultry retailer
in Patna. At least 11 countries have reported bird flu outbreaks
over the past three weeks, an indication the deadly virus
is spreading faster. More than 200 million birds across
Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa have died
of the virus or been culled. So far, most human victims
of bird flu have had direct or indirect contact with chickens,
but experts fear the virus might mutate into a strain easily
passed among people, causing a pandemic in which millions
could die.
Pawar issues statement on avian flu
New Delhi: Union Minister
for Agriculture Sharad Pawar today briefed members of the
Lok Sabha about the Bird Flu virus hitting parts of India.
He told the members that large scale death of poultry had
been reported from Navapur Taluka of District Nandurbar,
Maharahstra. Preliminary investigations had indicated the
possibility of Newcastle (Ranikhet) disease. Samples had
been sent to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL),
Bhopal, to test for Avian Influenza, which had turned out
to be positive. In the wake of this, Pawar said that a series
of strategic actions have been initiated immediately on
confirmation of Avian Influenza. "These actions include
declaration of infected and surveillance areas, absolute
ban on movement of poultry or its products in infected areas,
closure of poultry and egg markets and shops, destruction
of affected poultry followed by proper disposal etc," he
said. He further went on to say that the Government has
rushed to Maharashtra vaccines for poultry, Tamiflu for
humans and personal protective equipment. Rapid Response
Teams of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and
Fisheries and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have
also been rushed to the affected areas, he said. The teams
of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are carrying
out surveillance of human population in the area.
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