Health department denies bird flu, minister confirms

Following the reports of incidence of bird flu in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, the health department of the West Bengal government has created two isolation wards in the district as a precautionary measure.

However, Sanchita Bakshi, director of health services, government of West Bengal, said the Centre had not confirmed the outbreak of Bird Flu in West Bengal.

In contrast, the animal husbandry minister announced today that the centre had confirmed the attack of bird flu.

"There are cases of birds dying in West Bengal, but we do not have a confirmation from the Central government on the outbreak of Bird Flu. As a precautionary measure, we have created two isolation wards, one at a health care centre at the Birbhum district, and other at Rampurhat hospital. We have also send additional stocks of Tamiflu, the main drug for the treatment of Bird Flu in humans, to the two centres," said Bakshi.

The health department had also rushed a team of senior officers in the Bird-Flu-affected areas in order to outline the future course of action, Bakshi said.

Nearly 50 teams of health care workers, each comprising representatives of the health and animal husbandry departments, were taking regular rounds in different blocks of the Birbhum district, Bakshi said.

According to unofficial estimates, at least 20,000 chickens have died so far in West Bengal over the last two weeks.

Animal husbandry department sources said that over 3.76 lakh chickens will be culled from January 16 in Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts after the Centre confirmed the presence of H5N1 virus in samples.

"Over 3.50 lakh birds in Birbhum and 26,000 in South Dinajpur district will be culled from tomorrow," Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahaman said.

Trade and movement of poultry birds in Birbhum and West Dinajpur districts was restricted and checkposts on all roads and highways there there were enforcing the restrictions.

Proper burial of carcasses had also been ordered, he told reporters.

According to Rahman, 35,000 birds have died at two blocks of each of Rampurhat and Nalhati subdivisions, Nalhati municipality and Mayureswar in Birbhum district, besides at Balurghat in South Dinajpur district in the last few days.

There was no report of any human being infected by the virus but people in the affected areas were told not to eat chicken, chicks and eggs.

The state's border wih Bangladesh would be sealed, he said.

In New Delhi, the Centre confirmed the outbreak of bird flu in the two districts, stating, "Samples have been tested positive" by the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal.

The occurrence was located in some subdivisions in the two districts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur.

The Health Ministry had on January 15 sent a team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases to West Bengal.

Parallel samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

The Birbhum district administration said it had sent 50 special teams to help people dispose of dead chickens in Rampurhat sub-division where a bird alert has been sounded.

An emergency meeting of all the Block Development Officers (BDO) of Rampurhat Sub-division has also been called today to discuss the issue.

Unofficial reports said at least 20,000 chickens had died so far. The state Health Department has also formed 12 teams, each comprising a doctor and other health workers, to start rapid culling of the birds in the case an outbreak is confirmed, Birbhum District Magistrate Tapan Shome said.

An isolation ward had been opened in the Rampurhat district hospital to treat any possible cases of human bird flu.