CHIKKABALLAPUR : A pig farm owner has dumped carcasses of nearly 50 to 60 pigs that were infected with African swine flu in the lake at Hebburi village of Chintamani taluk in Chikkaballapur district, highly infecting the water body.
District Health Officer Dr SS Mahesh said a team of doctors reached Hebburi village on Friday and tested people for any infection. The village has 206 houses with a population of around 700 people. Though the village is 3 km from the lake, all measures are being taken, he added.
Villagers are not showing any signs of fever. However, the samples of villagers will be taken for a week. They have been advised to wash their hands and legs thoroughly in the morning and evening, he said.
The Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Biological (IAH and VB) has confirmed it as the highly contagious form of swine flu. Another team of officials has camped at the farm owned by Venkata Reddy and is culling all the pigs at the farm and disposing them of as per procedure, said Chikkaballapur Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry Dr Rangappa.
A team from different departments, including Dr SS Mahesh, veterinary, revenue and police officials, is carrying out the culling operations, he said.
It was Venkata Reddy who informed veterinary department officials about flu-like symptoms in his pigs at the farm. But before that, he had dumped in the lake the carcasses of the pigs that had died due to the infection. As the carcasses started decomposing, giving out a foul smell, the villagers too had alerted the officials. The officials then collected samples and sent them to IAH and VB. The lab informed that it was African flu, Rangappa said.
The lake is now being cleaned and chlorinated. Revenue officials will put up a board warning people to stay away from the lake and not to use its water till further notice.
‘Plaint will be filed against Venkata Reddy’
A complaint will be filed against Venkata Reddy and legal action taken against him through the veterinary department, he said. The district administration will hold a meeting with the fishery and other department officials about cleaning the lake. A decision will also be taken whether to dis-pose of the fish from the lake, he added.
African Swine Flu or African Swine Fever is a highly contagious and deadly viral disease that aff-ects domestic and wild pigs, cau-sing severe economic losses due to its high fatality rate. There is curr-ently no cure or vaccine for ASF. However, the disease is not a thr-eat to humans and does not make pork products unsafe to eat.