The administration has adopted mass culling of poultry birds after bird flu cases were reported in three districts of Karnataka and has intensified its surveillance measures in the state. Districts on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are being targeted in particular as they are efforts to stop further spread, officials reported Saturday.
A zoonotic viral disease of poultry but virulent for some mammals and occasionally for humans and swine, Avian influenza is called bird flu. It has been reported in the recent outbreak in Manvi taluk of Raichur, Chikkaballapur taluk of Chikkaballapur and Sandur of Ballari district.
However, officials have ruled out human infections in Karnataka for now. According to Project Director of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Ansar Ahmed, H5N1 was subsequently confirmed in the NIHSAAD lab in Bhopal by the NIHSAD lab in Bhopal on February 25 at Regional Poultry Breeding and Training Centres of Kurekuppa (Ballari) and Chikkaballapur.
Thereafter, the 3 km radius around such affected sites was declared as an ‘Infected Area’ and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Health and Family Welfare initiated movement restrictions and biosecurity measures. The latest data from February 29 informed that villages of Chikkaballapur, 292 poultry birds were culled and 64 eggs disqualified while in Ballari 1,020 birds were culled.
Protective gear such as masks, gloves, goggles and disposable shoe covers were provided to cullers and transporters to prevent human transmission. In addition, birds and eggs in a 1 km radius of the Bird’s nest are being buried as a precautionary measure. Being prophylactic means being given medication and placed under a 10-day isolation period for flu-like symptoms, as well as monitoring for those who are close to infected birds.
The situation is continuing to be monitored by authorities, which are taking containment measures meant to avoid any further spread of the virus.
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