Door-to-door check for bird flu in humans

     Etawah (Uttar Pradesh): Health Minister A Ramadoss said on Monday that the Central Government would launch a door- to-door check for people with fever in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district. The world's second-most populous country, known for its poor healthcare system, was testing about 30 people for avian flu after 50,000 birds died in Maharashtra state's Nandurbar district and tests on some fowls turned positive for H5N1 virus. Amid fears that the disease could affect humans, the government said on Sunday it had found no case of human avian influenza after preliminary tests on a dead farmer who was suspected to have been the country's first human victim. Ramadoss said federal teams and volunteers had fanned out in villages around 52 poultry farms in Nandurbar and part of Gujarat to carry out a door-to-door check for patients reporting fever, cough or cold.

     An alert has also been sounded in northern Uttar Pradesh where nearly 1400 birds have died in the Etawah region. "The teams are in the field and assisting the state health authorities in carrying out active surveillance i.e. house to house search to identify contacts of infected poultry," Ramadoss told the Lower House of parliament in New Delhi. India's biggest poultry firm, the Venketeswara Hatcheries, meanwhile slammed the government for playing into the hands of what they said was a multinational-fuelled fear psychosis. The company said the government has acted in haste and not verified the results adding it has test result to prove the birds died of Raniked, a common poultry disease. "Without understanding the consequences, we feel the government in a haste have called this as Bird Flu. Now on our request the minister has sent the samples to the UK and we are reasonably sure it will come negative but in the process they have created panic," K.G Anand, general manager of the group said at their Hyderabad office. Indian exporters of poultry say they are worried sales will suffer unless the government acts immediately and reassures importing nations over food safety.

     Indian officials had announced its first cases of bird flu and said eight people were being checked for the disease after tests on poultry in Nandurbar district, about 450 km (280 miles) north of the country's financial capital Mumbai, showed they were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain. Indian analysts as well have warned if the outbreak is not contained, the economic costs to Asia's third-largest economy -- which is forecast to grow around 8 percent in the financial year to March 2006 -- would be "very, very high". The H5N1 virus is known to have infected 171 people worldwide since late 2003, killing 93 of them. Two hundred million birds across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa have died of the virus or been culled. So far most victims of bird flu have had direct or indirect contact with chickens, but there are fears the virus might mutate into a strain easily passed among people, causing a pandemic in which millions could die.

States on guard as country battles to contain bird flu

Lucknow/Patna: Officials in Uttar Pradesh on Monday said the State is free of Bird Flu after investigations on death of 1600 chicken in a village poultry came out negative, in what is a major reprieve for the country battling to contain its first outbreak of the H5NI virus. "Right now there is no such situation in our State. Every year a number of poultry farms face natural deal of up to 10 percent of the livestock. As you will know the situation in Etawah where such deaths had occurred we had sent our special teams there and the post mortem report of the bird do not show Bird Flu," S.S Yadav, secretary of Animal Husbandry told reporters in capital Lucknow. The chicken had died in Etawah region sparking panic. Bihar also announced its preparedness to tackle the flu adding extensive awareness campaign have been launched to minimize panic and increase human safety. "We have made all preparations to tackle any eventuality. We are in constant touch with the Central Government but there is no cause for worry in the State. The wave of panic that has gone around the country has to be contained. I appeal to the people not to panic. They just need to pay heed to the directives and awareness messages being given out through newspapers and report any suspected cases they come to know of," Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Animal Husbandry of Bihar said in Patna. Three young children with flu-like symptoms were hospitalised on Monday, joining a woman and a child who were placed in an isolation ward the previous day in the remote district of Nandurbar in Maharashtra, the epicenter of the outbreak, About 30 more people are being tested for avian flu though it had said not a single case of bird flu infection or death in humans has been reported.

     Earlier in the day, Health Minister A.Ramadoss said that the Central Government would launch a door-to-door check for people with fever in Nandurbar District. Meanwhile, poultry owners and retailers have been the worst hit as domestic fowl prices fell up to 40 percent amid predictions they were likely to remain depressed for a couple of weeks. Ban of import by Pakistan and Nepal is adding to the crisis "After the news broke, business has gone crashing. We've not sold even 10 percent of what we normally sell. It's pretty bad. People have doubts, they are afraid. All they know is keep away from poultry even though they don't have the full picture," said Zain- il Abeddin, a poultry retailer in Patna. At least 11 countries have reported bird flu outbreaks over the past three weeks, an indication the deadly virus is spreading faster. More than 200 million birds across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa have died of the virus or been culled. So far, most human victims of bird flu have had direct or indirect contact with chickens, but experts fear the virus might mutate into a strain easily passed among people, causing a pandemic in which millions could die.

Pawar issues statement on avian flu

     New Delhi: Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar today briefed members of the Lok Sabha about the Bird Flu virus hitting parts of India. He told the members that large scale death of poultry had been reported from Navapur Taluka of District Nandurbar, Maharahstra. Preliminary investigations had indicated the possibility of Newcastle (Ranikhet) disease. Samples had been sent to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL), Bhopal, to test for Avian Influenza, which had turned out to be positive. In the wake of this, Pawar said that a series of strategic actions have been initiated immediately on confirmation of Avian Influenza. "These actions include declaration of infected and surveillance areas, absolute ban on movement of poultry or its products in infected areas, closure of poultry and egg markets and shops, destruction of affected poultry followed by proper disposal etc," he said. He further went on to say that the Government has rushed to Maharashtra vaccines for poultry, Tamiflu for humans and personal protective equipment. Rapid Response Teams of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have also been rushed to the affected areas, he said. The teams of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are carrying out surveillance of human population in the area.

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