Ducklings culled in Kerala due to bird flu scare

     Thiruvnanthapuram: Health authorities in Kerala culled thousands of ducklings yesterday, smuggled in from Tamil Nadu for sale, barely a week after the country reported its first H5N1 virus infection in poultry in Maharashtra. Over 2500 ducklings brought from hatcheries in Erode district of Tamil Nadu were culled as a preventive measure in Kollam district after isolated cases of deaths of birds were reported from different parts of the State. Veterinarians, however, dismissed avian flu being the cause of the death of birds, but as a precautionary measure, samples of the dead birds have been sent for detailed analysis. "A veterinary doctor told me that I cannot sell the ducklings in Kerala and asked me to take it back to Tamil Nadu. After some time, some doctors came and took two ducklings for tests," said Palani, who smuggled in the ducklings. Officials of animal husbandry department collected samples from the fowls and sent it for detailed analysis at a high security laboratory in Bhopal.

    After the outbreak of bird flu in some parts of Maharashtra, the State Government had stepped up vigil on import of poultry products from outside the State. "There was a possibility of those duckling going to different destinations in the State. So, we had no option but to cull them and destroy them. I hope that such incidents will not be repeated. This is our uniform policy, if any consignment is discovered from across the border without certification, we have standing instructions to all the department officials to immediately cull the consignment," said S. Ashoke, Director of Kerala State's Animal Husbandry Department.

    Meanwhile, poultry owners across Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, hit hard by bird flu, have hit the road to reassure consumers that all is not bad with their products. In Hyderabad, poultry owners hit upon the idea of distributing cooked chicken delicacies in a bid to win back consumers. "There is no bird flu in India. There are about fives lakhs poultry farmers in the country. They are on the verge of penury. Multinational companies have come out with this plan destroy our business," said Narayan Reddy, Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation. Barely a week after the first H5N1 virus infection in poultry was reported in western region, bird flu has spread to a village cluster in neighbouring Gujarat. Bird Flu was confirmed in two farms in Gujarat's Surat district, which borders Navapur, the epicenter of bird flu outbreak. Health and animal husbandry officials said they had as a precautionary measure already culled birds in farms within 10 kilometers of Navapur but now all birds across 71 villages, which included the unorganised poultry sector, will be cleared out. Health officials are also out on a door-to-door search for anyone with fever and giving cash in lieu of chicken they scrambled to contain the outbreak. Culling in Navapur and surrounding areas was over and more than 345,000 birds had been destroyed, officials said, adding that a few remaining backyard poultry were being culled after compensating the owners.

Poultry farms sealed in Surat after tests confirm bird flu

     Uchchal (Gujarat): Poultry farms in Surat have been sealed after bird flu was confirmed in the region. Samples from two poultry farms in Uchchal town of Surat were detected with H5N1 strain of avian influenza, officials said. Surat borders Navapur in Maharashtra-- the epicenter of bird flu outbreak in the country. Meanwhile, administration has intensified culling operations in the region and people connected with poultry are being vaccinated and disinfectants being sprayed. "We sprayed medicines in 500 houses. There are around 18-19 poultry farms in this area. We are not through with culling as yet," said Bhupender Shah, a health worker on Sunday. Health and animal husbandry officials said they had as a precautionary measure already culled birds in farms within 10 kilometers of Navapur but now all birds across 71 villages, which included the unorganized poultry sector, will be cleared out. Health officials are also out on a door-to-door search for anyone with fever and are giving cash in lieu of chicken they scrambled to contain the outbreak. Culling in Navapur and surrounding areas was over and more than 345,000 birds had been destroyed, officials said, adding that a few remaining backyard poultry were being culled after compensating the owners.

Swiss company Roche to deliver 30,000 packs of Tamiflu

     New Delhi: Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has said that it was likely to deliver 30,000 packs of Tamiflu drug to India within two months. Reports said that the company was also interested in allowing generic manufacturers to produce the drug under sub-licensing agreement for emergency use. Roche, however, said that the delivery of 30,000 packs by April would exceed the estimated amount as per the agreement with the Government of India which estimates the supply of about 15-20 per cent of 1,00,000 packs by Apriland the company had already supplied 5,000 packs. Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is an oral antiviral treatment (not a vaccine) for influenza, and belongs to a class of medicines called neuraminidase inhibitors (NAI). These medicines prevent the influenza virus from spreading inside the body and are designed to be active against all clinically relevant influenza virus strains. Tamiflu can be used both for prevention and treatment of influenza and it is proven to be effective in the treatment and for the prevention of influenza in adults and in children 1 year and older. Tamiflu was launched in North America (US and Canada) and Switzerland during 1999/2000. In all key European markets, it was launched by 2002/2003. Over 33 million patients have been treated with Tamiflu in about 80 countries worldwide, including United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, the EU, Switzerland and Latin America. Data collected from around 4000 treated with Tamiflu demonstrate an overall incidence of resistant virus of 0.4 per cent in adults and 4 per cent in children aged one to 12. The greatest use of Tamiflu today is in Japan. There were an estimated 16 million influenza infections in Japan over the 2004/2005. Key international research groups have evaluated the therapies available to fight the H5N1 avian and human virus strain using animal models of influenza demonstrating that Tamiflu is effective against these avian strains.

250 migratory birds found dead in Aurangabad

     Aurgangabad: In a shocking incident, over 250 migratory birds have been found dead at a remote village in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. Villagers are sceptical over the claim that the cause of the deaths is bird flu. The villagers suspect poisoning of birds rather than bird-flu as the cause of the incident. The deaths, which came to light this past week on Wednesday at the Gandhili village of Aurangabad, have caused a scare in the region. The migratory birds found dead were mainly of Green Shank and Red Shank species. After finding hundreds of birds dead, the villagers informed the district authorities about the incident. Deputy Commissioner and district animal husbandry officer led a team of officials to the village and collected blood and tissue samples of the dead birds. The samples have been sent to the High Security Disease Laboratory in Bhopal. "Migratory birds come to Aurangabad from a lot of European countries. Red Shanks come here mainly from Kashmir. They breed at 12,000 feet above and come here during winters. But we believe these birds have died due to poisoning and not because of bird flu. The birds have taken for post mortem and the reports are awaited," said Dilip Vardi, president of Friends of Birds, an NGO.

Bird flu alert in Tamil Nadu bird sanctuary

     Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary (Tamil Nadu): Bird sanctuaries across India have stepped up surveillance of migratory birds as the country grapples with its first outbreak of bird flu reported from Maharashtra last week. Home to at least 50,000 local and migratory birds, wildlife officials at the Vedanthangal Bird sanctuary in Tamil Nadu's Kanchipuram district are taking no chances, keeping a strict watch on the winged visitors. Officials at the sanctuary said they were alert to any apparent symptoms of avian influenza even though most of the birds mainly came here from neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, where no incidence of bird flu has been reported as yet. Officials said they have been on an alert since two years, long before bird flu came to India and were currently part of a statewide alert in Tamil Nadu with regard to the virus. "We get migratory birds from outside countries. And mainly we are looking at birds like geese and gulls, which come here. There is a possibility of them being carriers of these pathogens, so we have been on the watch out of any incidents of such things happening in these sanctuaries for the last few months. But then with the outbreak of this disease having come to our notice, we have stepped up the surveillance," said CK Sridharan, chief wildlife warden, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary. For hundreds of bird watchers though, Vedanthangal's vibrant bird life has not lost its charm in the backdrop of the dreaded virus and visitors still come here in hordes. Situated 90 kilometres from Chennai, Vendanthangal is India's oldest bird sanctuary. Tamil Nadu has more than 1,000 kilometres of coastline where hundreds of thousands of migratory birds like flamingos, pelicans, cranes and geese throng its shores and water bodies all year round.

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