March 29, 2006

Bird flu reported in India's Madhya Pradesh

Bird flu has been detected in a poultry sample from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the federal government said Tuesday (Mar 28).

"Eight samples have tested positive for bird flu. Of these, seven belong to Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, while one is from Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh," the government said in a statement.

The deadly bird flu was first detected in India near the town of Navapur, in the poultry-farming district of Nandurbar in the western state of Maharashtra on February 18.

Later, it was reported in four villages of Jalgaon district of the same state on March 14.

Following this, 96 poultry samples were collected from Jalgaon and the adjoining Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh, of which eight have tested positive for bird flu by the country's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory.

Control and containment operations are being initiated in these areas. Birds within a 10-kilometre radius of the area from which the samples that tested positive were taken will be culled.

The Animal Husbandry Ministry reported that the authorities plan to slaughter around 200,000 chickens.