Government officials have confirmed that the outbreak was at a chicken farm of some 200,000 birds at Nandurbar near the Gujarat border.
Mumbai/New Delhi: With the state government on Saturday confirming the deaths of 50,000 poultry in Nandurbar district on the Gujarat border, the longstanding threat of an avian influenza (or bird flu) epidemic in the country has come frighteningly close to reality.
The flu has been detected on 16 of 49 poultry farms in a 3km stretch of Navapur block. The High-Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal confirmed the presence of the H5N1 strain of avian flu in eight poultry samples sent to it for testing last week.
The Union Cabinet secretary called for an emergency meeting. A rapid response team has been rushed to Maharashtra. The Prime Minister is monitoring the situation.
Union Minister of State for Health P Lakshmi said the country is on alert. The government has stockpiled 10 lakh doses of Tamiflu to combat any outbreak.
Though there are no reports yet of human cases, the possibility cannot be ruled out. Most people who catch the bird flu virus develop relatively mild symptoms of ordinary fever. “If anyone who has come from a bird flu-affected area or who has been in direct contact with human patients approaches a doctor with symptoms of influenza, he should be tested for bird flu,” said Dr Ashok Mahasur, chest physician at the Hinduja hospital in Mumbai.
"Six children are reported to be down with fever," a Union health official said. "Our team is ascertaining whether they are suffering from bird flu or normal viral fever." The children are between 2 and 5 years of age.
A PTI report quoting Health Secretary PK Hota said 12 human samples have been sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology while four people have been kept under observation in a Nandurbar hospital.
Hota, however, stressed that the infection has not spread to humans yet: "There are no cases of lungs being affected and the infection is restricted to birds. There is no need to panic."
According to information on the website of the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA, "Symptoms of avian influenza in humans have ranged from typical human influenza symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches) to eye infections, severe lung disease (causing breathing difficulties), and other life-threatening complications."
Maharashtra Health Minister Vimal Mundada said medical teams had been sent to the eight places in Nandurbar district from where reports of birds dying have come in.
The disease can only be detected by a laboratory test that takes up to 10 days. But Ranbaxy Laboratories has announced the development of a rapid test for avian flu, which can deliver results in just 24 hours.
The Centre recently renewed a two-year-old ban on the import of poultry and cattle from countries such as Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Turkey, and Vietnam, from where human cases of avian flu have been reported.
In Maharashtra, transport or sale of any poultry products from Nandurbar district has been banned till further orders. The government has ordered a door-to-door survey in 19 villages in the district to check if any humans have caught the virus.
The Centre has activated measures to prevent the spread of the infection. Healthy birds have been segregated from infected birds and control measures as per international guidelines have been initiated.
"The area has been cordoned off and all poultry within the range will be destroyed," Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said. More than 3,00,000 birds will be culled and buried in deep pits. Farmers will be suitably compensated for the loss, he promised.
—With Shubhangi Khapre in Mumbai
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