Haryana Government on Friday ordered the slaughter of 1,66,328 chickens after samples of dead poultry birds sent to the Indian National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh were tested positive for Bird flu H5N8 virus, said Haryana Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Jai Prakash Dalal.

Talking to reporters in Chandigarh,  Dalal said that the State Government has declared the area within the radius of one-kilometre from the two poultry farms, whose poultry birds have tested ‘Avian Influenza’ (H5N8) positive as “Infected Zone” and the area from 1 km to 10 km as “Surveillance Zone”. Department officials have been asked to also keep a vigil on the areas with large numbers of poultry farms in Jind, Safido and other parts of the State.  “We have restricted the movement of poultry goods from these areas,” he added.

The Minister said that the risk to humans from the disease is considered low, but past outbreaks among farm birds have needed extensive slaughtering programmes to contain the disease. As per the government of India guidelines, the poultry of farms located within one km of any farm fund having infected birds have to be culled.

“All captive birds within a 1 km radius of the farms will be culled. Accordingly, as per estimates, around 1.66 lakh poultry birds of five poultry farms in Panchkula will be culled. Officials will begin the slaughter of chicken from Saturday. The culling will be blood and pain less. The department has manpower trained in this process. 59 teams have been formed to kill five farm chickens. Adequate the PPE kits, gunny bags for packing the carcasses are being procured,” he added.

Dalal said that some strains of avian influenza are fatal for chickens, and pose a health threat to humans, who can fall sick after handling infected poultry. All necessary measures have been taken to contain the spread. The local authorities have been asked to ban the sale and export of poultry in the region apart from stepping up testing on a random basis in Panchkula, Jind and other parts of the State to control the spread.

Minister said that usually the mortality rate of birds during this season is around 16,000 per month. Indeed, the death of 4 lakh poultry birds is abnormal compared to the mortality of birds reported in previous years.

Immediate action was taken and clinical investigations were carried out as soon as the State Government was apprised about the unusual death of birds in the poultry farms of Panchkula district. During the investigations conducted by the Department it came to light that around 4 lakh birds have died in these poultry farms in the last one month.

The samples of these dead birds were initially sent to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar, however, due to delay in report, the samples were sent to National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal for examination. As per the report received it has been confirmed that birds of two poultry farms were infected with avian influenza (H5N8).  He said that though this bird flu strain is less pathogenic, the State Government has issued a notification for the affected poultry farms of Panchkula as a precautionary measure.

Divulging the names of poultry farms, the Minister said that now the State Government has declared the areas within one-kilometre radius of infected poultry farms namely, 'Siddharth Poultry Farm' at village Kheri in Panchkula district and 'Nature Poultry Farm, Dandlaver' located in village Ganauli as “infected-zone”.

Furthermore, the area within the radius of 1 to 10 kilometre has been declared as a “surveillance zone”.  He said to prevent the spread of this disease to other areas, check-posts have been set up in the infected areas by the Government.

Antiviral drugs will be given to the employees working in the farm within a radius of one kilometer of the bird flu confirmed farm. It will not have any effect on the health of the people. The health department will also take samples of employees who are suffering from cold. The State Health Department will monitor the health of the employees and owners working in the said poultry farms and they will be given appropriate guidelines, he added.