RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM
All workers in chicken shops and poultry farms within the 10-km surveillance zone of the three bird flu hotspots in East Godavari district are being sent for medical tests to check for possible human infections. The measure follows the recent detection of avian influenza in the district’s poultry sector.
The first bird flu case in the district was confirmed on February 9 after samples collected from dead poultry layers at a farm in Kanuru Agraharam village, within the Peravali hotspot, tested positive. The tests were conducted by the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal. The mass mortality of egg-laying poultry was first reported in the Godavari region on January 13.
Deep burial
On Tuesday, the Rapid Response team began the deep burial of poultry layers that died from the bird flu virus (H5N1) and those culled in poultry farms across three hotspots — Peravali, Nallajarla, and Sithanagaram — in East Godavari district.
Led by District Collector P. Prasanthi, the RR team rushed to the Peravali hotspot, where live poultry layers were culled, and dead birds were being buried in accordance with biosecurity protocols.
“Mass mortality of poultry layers has been reported in the three poultries in the Peravali hotspot. Similarly, bird flu has also been reported in the poultry units in the two other hotspots, Nallajarla and Sithanagaram, in the East Godavari district,” said Ms. Prasanthi.
A total of 64 medical teams have been deployed, and health camps have been set up in 34 villages within the red zone of the three bird flu hotspots to monitor and identify any human cases with symptoms of the virus. The supply of eggs will be banned for 10 days in all schools and Anganwadi centres across the district.
Published – February 12, 2025 04:01 am IST
