Even as news of bird flu is pouring from various districts, Kerala has started culling of nearly four lakh ducks in Kuttanad, the rice bowl of the state, spread over the three districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta to prevent spreading of the fever to people in the area.
The state has sounded a red alert in these three districts and banned sale of duck meat and eggs in the region. The chicken will not be permitted to bring form the neighbouring states till the situation comes under control. Restriction has been imposed to visitors at the three zoos in the state and people have been asked not to feed their pets with chicken meat as virus has been found in broiler chicken. A bird sanctuary in Kuttanad has been closed since the migratory birds here show the symptoms of bird flu.
Health and animal husbandry officials have already swung into action to combat the outbreak. Nearly one lakh ducks were burnt to death on Wednesday. They are also sanitising the affected areas and setting up health camps for closely monitoring the local population for symptoms indicating transmission of virus to them.
Poultry in the affected area will also be killed to contain the spread of virus.
Already, bird flu has killed 17,000 of the total six lakh ducks in Kuttanad, the wetland of the Vembanad lake famous for backwater tourism, especially for the houseboat cruising.
A special cabinet meeting held under chief minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday, has decided to deploy more health and animal husbandry officials in the area, post more doctors and paramedical staff at the hospitals in the districts, augment the stock of anti-viral drug Oseltamivir and pay compensation for farmers whose birds died or to be culled
Though the viral fever is highly mortal for birds, especially for poultry, its impact on human body depends on the type of the virus. The strain of the virus found in Kuttanad is yet to be identified by High Security Animal Disease (HSAD) Laboratory, Bhopal which has confirmed bird flu in Kuttanad.
State nodal officer for infectious diseases Dr Amar Fettel says that not all the viruses belonging to group causing bird flu affect human being, but certain type such as H1N1, H5N1, H7N7 and H9N2 cause infection in man and sometime which leads to death.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the H5N1 virus is currently circulating in poultry in parts of Asia and Northest Africa, which have caused disease and deaths since 1997.
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