Eight suspect cases, culling ends

Having finished most of its culling operations, the government today said it was embarking on the second phase of culling which will rid India of avian influenza in 3-6 months. The second phase will focus on decontamination and surveillance.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said culling of infected poultry would end this evening.

An advisory committee, consisting of executives from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the department of animal husbandry, scientists and epidemiologists, has been formed to devise future strategy.

In another development, the collector of Nandurbar district in Maharashtra issued a show cause notice to Venkateshwara Hatcheries, the country's largest hatchery, seeking an explanation why action should not be taken against it for allegedly supplying bird flu-affected chicken to two poultries in Navapur.

In Navapur, eight more persons, suspected to be suffering from bird flu symptoms, were admitted at the sub-district hospital and put under observation in a specially-erected isolation ward.

Meanwhile, the government today suspended supply of poultry and poultry products as part of rations for armed forces personnel. The Railways banned serving of chicken dishes and eggs in any form by any railway static catering units and mobile catering units until further orders. Jet Airways said it would serve only vegetarian meals and snacks on its flights with immediate effect.

On the other hand, officials from the department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries said a note had been issued to the civil aviation ministry and the Railway Board, along with WHO guidelines on food safety, to ensure that poultry products were back on the menu of the state carriers.

Starting today, cleaning up of chicken sheds, their feed, droppings and feathers would be undertaken in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

So far, 73,157 birds have been culled in Gujarat which has completed the culling operations and over 1,50,000 in Maharashtra where operations were continuing till the time of filing this report.

Vaccination has been deferred in the 'surveillance area' of 3-10 km from the infected farm in Nandurbar and culling is expected to be undertaken here as well, which would expedite the process of India being declared a "disease free country", according to P M A Hakeem, secretary, department of animal husbandry.

The ministry of health & family welfare, on its part, has sought rate inquiries from three domestic pharma companies "" Hetero, Cipla and Ranbaxy, that are capable of producing and supplying oseltamivir (generic version of Tamiflu) to the government.

It has also sent 200 bottles of paediatric formulation of oseltamavir, which it had procured from WHO, to the affected region in Maharashtra. It has arranged for 20,000 doses of the drug from Hetero Drugs, coming in tomorrow, and another 30,000 would be supplied by Roche in March.