A Central team led by Union Animal Husbandry department Commissioner Abhijit Mitra visiting Kerala to review the situation following an avian flu outbreak in Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta districts has suggested setting up a special surveillance system in the Kuttanad region.
On Friday, members of the Central team along with Animal Husbandry department (AHD) Director A. Kowsigan and chief disease investigation officer Sheela Sali visited duck farms in Pulinkunnu and Mankombu in Alappuzha and reviewed the situation.
The Central team later held discussions with the officials of the National Institute of Virology, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, among others. The team had earlier held talks with Chief Secretary V. Venu and senior officials of various departments at Thiruvananthapuram.
Officials said that experts from the NIHSAD and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics would stay in Alappuzha for avian sample collection.
Bird flu (H5N1) has so far been reported at nine places in Alappuzha. Besides, the disease was confirmed at Vazhappally in Kottayam and Niranom in Pathanamthitta. Officials of the AHD said that rapid response teams had so far culled 72,864 birds, mostly ducks, in and around the bird flu hotspots in the three districts.
