Four cases of bird flu found in this district of MP, H5N1 found in 3 pet cats and a bird

Chhindwara. Bird flu has knocked in Madhya Pradesh. The Union Health Ministry said on Friday that four cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) have been found in three pet cats and a bird in Madhya Pradesh. The ministry said that necessary public health measures were taken after the Animal Husbandry Department reported cases of avian influenza or bird-flu on January 31.

The ministry said in a statement, ‘As a result of the information of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) in three pet cats and a live bird market in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, necessary public health measures were initiated.’ The state has been asked to launch control and prevention operations as per the Department of Animal Husbandry’s Action Plan for Prevention, Control and Containment of Avian Influenza (2021).

Both are being monitored
The statement said that all the birds in the live bird market have been culled and the market has been closed for 21 days from the date of issue of hygiene certificate. Necessary action has been initiated as mentioned in the action plan of the Animal Husbandry Department. Necessary measures as prescribed in the Contingency Plan (2005) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India have also been initiated.

According to the statement, ’65 human samples were collected from veterinarians, other contacts and people working in the live bird market and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for testing on February 10. Influenza was not confirmed in all of them,’ the statement said.

Earlier on February 1, bird flu was confirmed in a poultry centre in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, a neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh. Officials said that a case of bird flu was confirmed at 10.30 pm on Friday night at the Government Poultry Farm, Chakradhar Nagar, Raigarh. They said that the National High Security Animal Disease Institute in Bhopal has confirmed the infection of ‘H5N1’ (bird flu) in the samples of carcasses of poultry sent from the Government Poultry Farm, Raigarh.