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The Union health department today confirmed the spread of bird flu in Kerala was due to H5N1 virus, which is fatal to human beings.
Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy urged people not to panic as the situation was under control.
He told reporters culling was being taken up on a war footing in the five villages of Alappuzha district and one village in the Kottayam district, where the disease is prevalent.
Local people and poultry farmers were active in destroying the dead birds with the support of local panchayat authorities.
It is learnt that most of the volunteers engaged have not been equipped with security gears and were handling the dead birds with bare hands.
The Rapid Action Force and officers of the department of Animal Husbandry department have been engaged at various spots.
Another 400-member Rapid Action Force would be deployed on Friday to cull the ducks in the infected areas.
The deadly H5N1 can be fatal to humans. The virus was responsible for deaths of nearly 400 people and hundreds of millions of poultry after it spread from Asia into Europe and Africa in 2005-06.
According to www.flu.gov, the most human cases of ‘highly pathogenic’ H5N1 virus infection have occurred in people who had recent contact with sick or dead poultry that were infected with H5N1 viruses.
Over 200,000 birds have been culled in the bird flu-affected areas in Alappuzha, while an intensive surveillance campaign had been launched in a 10 km radius around the area to arrest the spread of virus.
Meanwhile, bird flu is spreading to more places, especially in southern parts of the state. The disease, first detected in Alappuzha and Kottayam districts, now, has a strong presence in Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam districts. Incidents of death of ducks were also reported from the Kollam district.
The department of Animal Husbandry confirmed broiler chicken in a farm in Kumarakam village have been affected. Department sources said at least 150 chicken died due to the epidemic in Kumarakam area. Hundreds of dead ducks have been abandoned in various places, raising grave concern over the spread of disease to human beings and spoiling the environment.
Chicken, egg sales drop
In the midst of media reports on bird flu, the chicken and egg sales have drastically dropped across the state. In the central and southern districts of the state, chicken sales dropped 40% during last couple of days. Eggs are also not in demand now. This situation has affected the hotels very badly as customers are not ordering chicken and egg dishes. Kerala consumes roughly a million Kgs of chicken and around 1 crore eggs on a daily basis. A major chunk of chicken and eggs come from Tamil Nadu. Chicken price now dropped to Rs 80/Kg from Rs 90. In some places chicken is available at a price tag of Rs 70/Kg.
