Poultry farms affected by bird flu sealed in Manipur

Health officials in Manipur have begun sealing poultry farms following an outbreak of bird flu in the state.

Imphal, Aug 12 : Health officials in Manipur have begun sealing poultry farms following an outbreak of bird flu in the state.

Health workers sealed the farms yesterday after completing the second phase of culling, mopping and sanitizing procedure within a 5-kilometre radius here, where symptoms of the H5N1 influenza were detected.

Though no human infection of the virus has been reported so far, but health officials warned of strict measures against people who fail to cooperate with the drive.

"This is almost the final phase of the mopping, and cleaning also has been completed almost in every area... In almost all localities we have received the reports of completion of the cleaning and disinfection process," said Dorendro Singh, Director of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry.

More than 300,000 chickens have been culled and six thousand mopped since the disease was detected.

India had two major flare-ups of bird flu in the western parts of the country last year.

Globally, at least 192 people have died due to bird flu out of 319 cases since 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

ANI