Bird flu returns to Tripura, culling begins

After a gap of three years, bird flu has resurfaced in the northeast Indian state of Tripura, bordering Bangladesh.

As per Government of India rules, mass culling process went underway on Saturday.

Chickens and hens were culled in the state-owned Gandhigram State Poultry Farm, said an official.

"There were reports of some unusual deaths and on the 13th (January) we sent the dead carcass from Agartala to Bhopal High Security Laboratory for tests. They sent the report on the 14th 6pm confirming the presence of the Avian Influenza virus.

That’s why as per government of India rules in the farms which have been affected by avian influenza the birds have to be culled totally and accordingly we have started the culling programme,” Tripura Animal Resource Development Department (ARDD) Director Manoranjan Sarkar said.

More than 8,500 chickens and hens were culled, besides 10,000 eggs being destroyed on Saturday at the government-run farm in western Tripura, according to Sarkar.

All poultry birds within a one-kilometre radius of the farm will have to be culled. The process will start from Sunday.

“In villages around the farm we have recorded the mortality of hens and ducks and we sent the samples to the laboratory. On the evening of the 14th we found the bird flu H5N1 stains positive,” said Dr Arup Kumar Dey, Deputy Director, Disease Investigation.

ARDD officials wearing protective gear culled birds and put them in sacks, which were later buried deep in the ground. All materials used were burnt.

Culling will also take place at the R K Nagar government animal farm.

The National Institute of High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal has confirmed the samples from the government farm are positive for H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

It has been decided to immediately commence the culling of birds and destruction of eggs and feed material, among other things, so as to control a further spread of the disease without delay.

According to the official, in addition to the culling, surveillance will be carried out over a further radius of up to 10 km to monitor any spread of infection.

The northeast Indian state of Tripura was first affected by avian influenza in April 2008, forcing the authorities to cull several hundreds of thousands of poultry birds.