Maharashtra: Bird deaths cross 6,000 since Jan 8 in state

The variety of chicken deaths in Maharashtra has reached 6,816 since January 8. After the affirmation of chicken flu deaths by the ICAR-National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, near 10,000 poultry birds and 500 eggs have been culled throughout seven districts.
On Monday, 829 birds have been discovered lifeless within the state. The highest casualty was reported on Saturday, when round 1,200 birds have been discovered lifeless throughout the state. Of the whole, 699 poultry birds have been discovered lifeless, whereas 67 have been crows, and the remaining have been parrots, herons and migratory birds.
Last week, the animal husbandry division had culled 11,063 poultry birds in Latur district and three,443 from Parbhani.
The ICAR-NIHSAD has confirmed chicken flu in poultry chickens at 11 locations protecting eight districts — Parbhani, Latur, Nanded, Pune, Solapur, Beed, Ahmednagar and Raigad, on Friday. “The poultry bird samples from Amravati and Akola have been reported negative for the Avian Influenza,” acknowledged the animal husbandry division.
The state animal husbandry division on Monday directed the district to not impose any sort of ban on the motion and sale of dwell poultry birds and eggs. A letter from the principal secretary of the animal husbandry division to its commissioner says whereas there have been confirmed circumstances of pathogenic avian influenza within the state, banning of motion of poultry reported in some districts-is “not at all justifiable and does not have any scientific basis”.
The letter states the ban needs to be imposed solely inside the radius of 10 km of an contaminated zone, and that until date, there isn’t any report of human an infection or scientific experiences in regards to the unfold of the an infection by consumption of cooked and processed poultry merchandise.

It clarifies that advisories have been issued to not ban motion of poultry and poultry merchandise, but many states have imposed such restrictions on the sale of rooster and eggs. It directs the commissioner to jot down to district collectors to not impose such bans. “Kindly ensure the seamless marketing of poultry products sourced from the non-infected zones or areas is smoothly taking place everywhere,” it states.
The Central authorities, on Monday, accredited the upgradation of the Disease Investigation Section (DIS) at Pune. Currently at DIS, RT-PCR checks are carried out on lifeless birds’ samples which give ends in 48-72 hours. The take a look at is carried out to test the presence of H5 (Hemagglutinin sort 5) in a pattern which confirms the chicken flu virus. Once confirmed, samples are then transported to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal to test if the pressure of chicken flu is N1 or N8. The traces of H5N1 are extremely pathogenic Avian influenza, whereas H5N8 is low pathogenic Avian influenza.
“Once we complete the BSL 3 lab at WRDDL, there will be no dependence on NISHAD lab for confirmation of bird flu strain,” mentioned Anoop Kumar, Principal Secretary (Animal Husbandry).