H5N1 outbreak: Union Health Ministry team goes to Chhattisgarh

New Delhi: Following reports about the outbreak of Avian flu in poultry farms in Durg and Bastar districts of Chhattisgarh, a team of Union Health Ministry has gone there to take stock of the situation.

A three-member team, comprising two epidemiologists and a chest physician, has gone to Chhattisgarh to investigate and assist the state authorities to take necessary measures for containment of H5N1 as per the established protocol, Ministry sources said. The animal husbandry department in the Ministry of Agriculture had informed the Health Ministry that the samples sent from Anjora and Jagdalpur farms have been declared positive by Bhopal`s high security animal diseases laboratory, the sources said. After discussions with Health Ministry officials, the rapid response team of animal husbandry`s veterinary department started cleaning and sanitation work in an area of 1 km radius of the infected zone, which includes culling of the birds. The department of animal husbandry has also imposed a ban on the sale and purchase of poultry birds from outside the state for the next two months. Ministry sources said this is the 19th outbreak of Avian flu reported since 2006 when the first outbreak was reported from Maharashtra. No human casualty has been reported so far in India. PTI