More avian flu outbreaks reported across India

After an absence of a matter of weeks, it has been confirmed that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has returned to India, affecting several poultry flocks in Kerala in the south of the country as well as waterfowl in other states.

Andrea Gantz
Andrea Gantz

After an absence of a matter of weeks, it has been confirmed that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has returned to India, affecting several poultry flocks in Kerala in the south of the country as well as waterfowl in other states.

The ministry of agriculture in New Delhi has now reported the first two outbreaks of HPAI in poultry to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Both were in the district of Alappuzha, and started in the third week of October. Of the almost 158,000 poultry involved, 115 died and more than 21,000 have been destroyed.

The National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal has confirmed that the virus belongs to the H5N8 group. Source of the infection remains unclear at this time. Authorities have put in place the usual control measures, including movement controls, screening, cleaning/disinfection, quarantine and slaughter of birds at infected premises. There will be no treatment of affected animals, and vaccination is prohibited.

According to the latest report from the Kerala state capital, Kottayam, a total of five flocks have now been confirmed with HPAI. All were within a one-kilometer radius of the initial outbreaks, reports New Indian Express. More than 1,000 ducks succumbed to the disease on just one day, and over 7,000 have been culled. A further 13,000 are awaiting destruction.

Cause of death in domestic ducks at a tourist complex at Hisar in Haryana in northern India recently has also been confirmed as due to the H5N8 HPAI virus variant, according to Times of India.

This brings the number of outbreaks in the region to three, all of them in waterfowl. Poultry within a 1-km radius are being culled to prevent the further spread of the infection.

Previous recent cases of HPAI in India include outbreaks in zoo birds in New Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, and in Rajasthan – regions at a great distance from Kerala.

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