About 500 birds, including ducks, have died after a resurgence of the bird flu in Alappuzha. The presence of the virus was confirmed following the testing of samples collected from the area at the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal.
Today, culling will take place in the areas where the disease was confirmed in Alappuzha. The Department of Animal Husbandry is expected to kill nearly 700 ducks and 1600 chickens in the area.
Bird flu was confirmed in Kottayam and Alappuzha districts earlier this month. In certain regions of Alappuzha, a large number of ducks were found dead. However, the farmers ignored the incident due to the Christmas and New Year festivities. Nearly, 12,000 ducks had died then.
The disease was confirmed in Nedumudy, Thakazhi, Pallippadu and Karuvatta regions of Alappazha and in Neendoor in Kottayam. All birds within one-kilometer radius of the disease infected region were culled and precautions are taken to prevent it from spreading to other parts.
However, Minister for Forest and Wildlife K Raju then said that around 50,000 ducks will be culled to check the spread of the virus and the government will compensate farmers.
In 2016, bird flu was reported in Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts and at least 2 lakh chicken and ducks were culled to control the outbreak. Bird flu was confirmed in Kozhikode and Malappuram last year but the spread of the disease was prevented by killing the birds in the area. Recently, avian flu was confirmed in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Bird flu, also known as avian flu, is a variety of influenza caused by a virus in birds. It can spread to humans and can prove fatal.
