New York, Jan 22: Nepalese authorities have begun culling thousands of poultry in response to an outbreak of bird flu in the south-eastern region of the country and banned the poultry products from India as a precautionary measure, a WHO report said on Thursday.
The government, it said, had officially declared the outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain on January 16 after samples of dead chickens collected in the Jhapa district earlier in the week were tested.
Authorities have declared districts bordering India as ‘High Risk Zones’ and banned the import of poultry products from the country, after birdflu outbreaks in the bordering Indian states of West Bengal and Assam were reported in December last, the report said.
The authorities have so far culled around 13,000 birds in Jhapa as part of the government's precautionary measures aimed at reducing the risk of an avian influenza epidemic.
With technical support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an active poultry surveillance at the four transit points bordering India has also been set up, the report added.
In other efforts to resist the spread of bird flu, the Ministry of Health and Population has trained the district's health workers on rapid avian influenza containment and countering human infections.
WHO has provided essential supplies – including 15,000 Tamiflu capsules, personal protection kits, intensive care unit equipment and other medical and disinfection reagents to prepare health workers in the region for cases of human infections.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009, 00:00