No case in poultry so far, don’t panic: Officials
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Feb 2: With five districts in Kashmir and two in Jammu reporting cases of Avian flu mostly in wild birds, the concerned department has so far lifted more than 260 samples mostly within the one km radius of the epicentre.
Officials told Excelsior that around 266 samples which are mostly targeted have been collected from five affected districts of Kashmir and the same have been sent for preliminary testing to Institute of Animal Health & Biological Products, Zakura Srinagar where from the suspected samples are further sent to Bhopal for confirmation.
“The samples include that of bird droppings, birds that have been found dead in the affected areas and otherwise; in total there are 266 samples that have been dispatched from the affected areas to the Zakura Lab,” the officials said.
Notably, the Bird flu cases have been reported from Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam, Budgam and Baramulla districts where the Avian flu has been detected in wild crows, while as in Udhampur it has been detected in a domestic fowl. Bird flu case has also been reported in a wild crow in Poonch.
Officials impress that there has been no case of Avian flu so far detected in the poultry that is being consumed by the people.
“People should continue consuming it with precautions that have already been notified by the Department of Health and that there is no need to panic as such,” officials said.
Pertinently, the concerned department is focusing on the surveillance measures that it takes within 10 km radius of the epicentre, while it also carries out random sampling within the one km radius of the epicentre.
Officials also said that the case from Athwajan that came into the public domain on Monday was confirmed on January 25 and the sample was collected on January 23.
They said that the necessary measures were already taken by the officials of Pulwama and Srinagar districts as the spot falls on the border of the twin districts.
“It was at Athwajan and the sample of a wild crow was taken after it was found dead. The area was sanitised. Samples were collected from domestic birds in the area and all the samples tested negative,” officials said.
They said that the area was notified as sensitive zone and the advisory was issued to the concerned departments and that the poultry farms are already under surveillance.
Further, the officials said that the same was the case with the sample that was taken from Peerpagh area. “The area also falls on the border of district Srinagar as well as Budgam; both the districts carried out their operations as per protocol,” they said.
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