All birds within one-km radius of the bird flu-infected areas in Kodiyathur grama panchayat and Vengeri in the Kozhikode Corporation limits will be culled in the coming days. This follows confirmation of the avian influenza in the State after a gap of four years.
The Animal Husbandry Department said in a release on Saturday that precautionary steps had been taken and the infection was unlikely to spread among humans. Samples of chicken in a farm at Kodiyathur were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, after a large number of the birds were found dead in a short span of time. The presence of bird flu was confirmed on Friday night.
Bird flu or avian influenza is referred to the infection of birds by H5/H7 strains of avian influenza Type A viruses that occur naturally among wild aquatic birds around the globe and can affect domestic poultry and animal species. Infected birds can shed the virus through their saliva, nasal secretions and faeces. Birds get infected when they are exposed to the virus after they are shed by those infected or through surfaces that are contaminated.
M.K. Prasad, Director, Animal Husbandry, said the areas within one-km radius of the spots from where the infection had been found would be under surveillance. A list of birds within another nine-km radius had been collected and those areas too would be under observation. Right now, the infection was likely to affect only birds, Dr. Prasad said.
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Control room numbers
The department has set up a 24-hour control room with phone number 0495 2762050. The State-level numbers are 9447016132 and 7012413432. A rapid response team was set up in Kozhikode district. It would be led by K. Sindhu, District Animal Husbandry Officer, and V. Sunil Kumar, Additional Director, Animal Husbandry, would be in charge of the containment works. Personal protection kits would be made available from across the State and another 5,000 kits would be urgently sought. District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao on Saturday held a meeting and members of the rapid response team were trained.
