Bird flu suspected to have spread to two more districts

GUWAHATI: Two more districts in Assam were suspected to have been affected by bird flu with poultry deaths reported from Sibsagar and North Lakhimpur.

Blood samples of the birds from the two districts were sent for tests to laboratories in Pune and Bhopal, Union Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Secretary N Gokulram told
reporters on Saturday.

While Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said earlier that nine districts were affected, Gokulram, who arrived here from Delhi yesterday, said that they numbered
six.

Sibsagar and North Lakhimpur districts, however, were fresh areas where the avian influenza was suspected to have spread.
  
Appropriate action would be taken in the two districts, Gokulram said, after receiving reports from the Bhopal-based High Security Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and
the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

The official said he had met the state chief secretary last evening and Assam government had geared up to tackle the situation.
 
"Cordoning of infected areas was enforced, culling speeded up and sanitation done so that nothing is left for a fresh outbreak of the disease," he said.
        
Purchase and movement of poultry products were banned within a radius of three km off the affected areas, Gokulram said. So far 93 rapid response teams were working in
affected Kamrup (Rural), Kamrup (Metro) where Guwahati is located, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang and Dibrugarh districts.

3.18 lakh poultry birds were culled so far with 1.8 lakh eggs and 11,000 kg of feed destroyed.