Bird flu strikes Kuttanad again
ALAPPUZHA: In the wake of the confirmation of bird flu, the Alappuzha district administration and animal husbandry department have begun culling ducks at Thakazhi in Kuttanad. A meeting convened by District Collector A Alexander constituted 10 squads to cull ducks after the outbreak was confirmed at Kunnumma South (ward 10) in Thakazhi panchayat.
“The National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, has confirmed the presence of H5N1 subtype of the influenza virus in the ducks in the region. Birds within 1-km radius of the infected area would be culled. The AHD has identified around 8,000 birds for culling. The movement and sale of poultry, meat and eggs from within a 9-km radius of the hotspot has been banned,” said the district collector.
In the last week of November, around 10,000 ducks reared by a farmer at Purakkad, close to the outer bund of a paddyfield in Thakazhy, died of an unidentified disease. Following this, the samples were sent to NIHSAD. The result that arrived on Wednesday has confirmed the presence of the virus in the ducks. Initially, the samples were sent to the Avian Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Tiruvalla and the State Institute for Animal Diseases, Thiruvananthapuram, but they could not ascertain the exact reason for the death of ducks.
Apart from the deaths in Thakazhy, over 13,000 duck deaths were reported in Nedumudi in Alappuzha district, Vechoor and Kallara in Kottayam district in the recent days. The animal husbandry department has sent samples from these places for analysis, but the result is yet to arrive. In less than a year, this is the second time bird flu has been confirmed in the region.
Earlier this year, flu caused by the H5N8 strain of the virus was detected in six places in the Kuttanad region at Nedumudi, Thakazhi, Pallippad, Karuvatta, and Kainakary in Alappuzha and Neendoor in Kottayam. Around 1 lakh birds died or were culled in the two districts. Bird flu has been creating concerns for Kuttanad farmers. This is the fourth bird flu outbreak in seven years.