Andhra Pradesh has confirmed incidences of avian influenza (bird flu) in the State and announced quarantine in a radius of one kilometre around a few villages in East and West Godavari districts. It has set up 721 rapid response teams to monitor the situation and take measures to arrest the spread of the virus. Further, control rooms have been set up in the affected districts.
“Responding to the reports of unusual death of poultry birds in these villages, we collected a few samples and sent them to the national Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal. We received a report which confirmed the avian influenza incidence,” a senior officials of Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department said.
“We discarded the dead birds according to biosafety protocols and declared ’alert zones’ in a radius of one kilometre around the affected villages,” he added.
Further, areas in a radius of 10 kilometres around the villages have been declared as a ‘survelliance zone’ . Transport of poultry birds and products from these areas have been barred.
Meeting convened
With reports of bird flu incidence in parts of Andhra Pradesh causing concern among poultry farmers, the Telangana government has decided to seal the borders barring entry of poultry feed and poultry products from the neighbouring States.
“There is no incidence of bird flu in Telangana. There are some reports of birds dying because of seasonal diseases. We have over 10 crore birds in the State and the death of thousands due to seasonal diseases is natural. There is no need to panic,” K Mohan Reddy, Telangana Poultry Federation President K Mohan Reddy, told businessline.
The State’s Animal Husbandry Ministry has convened a meeting with poultry industry leaders here on Wednesday to discuss the situation and measures to be taken to ward off the disease.
The Department asked the poultry firms to strictly adhere to biosafety protocols and train their staff to follow those norms. “We have alerted the checkposts along the borders and asked the staff not to ally any poultry products or poultry feed into the State,” a top official of the department said.
Awareness campaigns
It also asked the poultry firms to sanitise the farms thoroughly and discard the dead birds following the biosafety protocols.
Errabelli Pradeep Rao, a senior of the Telangana Poultry Federation, asked the consumers not to panic. “There are some deaths reported in some backyard forms. The Department sent the samples for testing and found no traces of bird flu. It is safe to eat chicken and eggs. Also, we cook chicken at very high temperatures which will make the virus, if any, ineffective,” he said.
“The department is holding awareness campaigns for poultry farmers in districts. Veterinary doctors have been asked to visit the farms and educate the farmers on how to stay safe,” the senior officer said.