ALAPPUZHA: After about 3,000 ducks died of bird flu in Thakazhi, Edathua and a few areas in Upper Kuttanad in just a matter of two days, the Alappuzha district administration has ordered the Animal Husbandry department to cull infected ducks. The scare of bird flu has gripped the Kuttanad region after nearly two years, but officials say this virus strain is not a deadly one.
“The presence of the H5N8 virus has been confirmed in the infected ducks. We have constituted 20 teams of Rapid Action Force and they have started prevention activities in the areas. I have also asked the Animal Husbandry department to cull infected ducks,” said District Collector Veena N Madhavan after a meeting with the officials of Animal Husbandry Department on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Animal Husbandry Department officials said there was no need to panic, the flu breakout in was of a common the Kuttanad region during summer season. “There is no chance of it spreading to human beings,” an official of the department said, confidently.
“However,” he added, “we have started steps to prevent spreading of the disease from one area to another. We have directed duck farmers not to move the ducks from one area to another to avoid the spread of the disease.”
Two years ago, there was a major bird flu scare in the region, but of a deadlier strain H5N1, over which nearly 2 lakh ducks and some 50,000 chickens were culled. Over three-lakh people were examined for the virus at the time.