Pawar appeals for restraint on bird flu scare

      New Delhi/Jalgaon (Maharashtra): Declaring that the bird flu situation is under control and there is nothing to panic about on a nationwide scale, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today came down heavily on media, saying it (media) "has blown a localised event out of proportion". Talking to reporters at the sidelines of the World Consumer Rights Day celebration here today, Pawar said: "The media has blown a localised event out of proportion without realising that such exaggeration of facts would impact the rural economy". Pawar said that the culling operations are on at the affected villages of Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, adding that the culling operations were being carried out according to the existing international norms. "There is no question of violating international norms on culling...People across the world have accepted the killing of birds by burying them. It's a successful technique and burning birds is not important," Pawar said.

     Meanwhile, the culling of chickens in Maharashtra's bird flu-hit Jalgaon district is continuing for the second day on Friday, with about 75,000 chickens are expected to be culled by the end of the day. Nearly 29,000 chickens were culled till 5.20 p.m. yesterday. The mopping is expected to continue for a week as tests confirmed the country's second outbreak of avian influenza in poultry was the deadly H5N1 strain. Central animal husbandry officials had yesterday said that 200- kilometer radius of the flu-hit area was being checked for the virus. "We decided that in addition to the surveillance, which we had mounted, we will step it up further. We will do it even more aggressively than we were doing. And we have earmarked these 38 districts in 200 kilometres radius for a quick check. Upma Chaudhury, Joint Secretary in the animal husbandry department, had said. In Maharashtra, where bird flu resurfaced this week in backyard poultry, officials said there was no time for niceties and the birds had to be killed fast. Veterinary and civic workers, wearing protective gear, yesterday moved door-to-door collecting chickens and eggs after paying owners 40 rupees (90 cents) for every bird as compensation. The birds had their necks twisted and were then stuffed in black plastic bags and buried in shallow pits. Disinfectants and lime powder were then sprinkled over the graves.

    Authorities said the latest outbreak -- in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra-- was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has killed about 100 people, most of them in Asia. However, there have been no reports of human infections in India. Health authorities said they were not taking any chances and had sent dozens of medical teams looking for people with flu-like symptoms to every household of the affected area. Hundreds of people in a nearby area have complained of fever. Though doctors said they are most likely suffering from dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease -- but they have sent blood samples for bird flu tests anyway. After the first outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all proved negative. Hospitals in Malegaon, 140 km (85 miles) from the latest outbreak, have treated nearly 2,000 people in 15 days. Authorities said they had identified four villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in the Jalgaon area as affected and were killing all birds -- an estimated 70,000 -- within that area. Jalgaon is 200 km (125 miles) from Navapur, where the country reported its first case of the H5N1 strain last month. Authorities said last week they had contained the virus there after culling hundreds of thousands of chickens. Monitoring was being stepped up in 38 districts around Jalgaon - including parts of neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat -- and would cover not only humans and poultry but also pigs and cats. Isolation wards have been kept ready in local hospitals should there be a need to quarantine people. Authorities have also restricted movement of traffic through the four affected villages. However, poultry farm owners in adjacent Nasik said there was no threat of a bird-flu outbreak in the district. "The bird flu which was in Navapur has spread to Jalgaon. But this problem is more with the chickens that are kept in houses in the villages as they are not fed well and are also not given vaccines. But the chickens kept in the farms are better taken care of. We have already given them three vaccines. Hence, there is not much a problem for these chickens," said Ashok Darare, a poultry businessman.

      Earlier, television showed dead chickens lying on a road in Jalgaon and children in the affected areas playing with domestic poultry. The first outbreak cost the poultry industry more than 120 million dollars in just two weeks. The bird flu virus has spread rapidly since the beginning of February, moving deeper into Europe, Africa and Asia. Scientists fear it is only a matter of time before the virus mutates into a form that passes easily among people, triggering a pandemic. Millions could die and economies would be crippled if that happens, they say.

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