Over 50% of 44 dead bird samples in state test positive for avian flu

Pune: The animal husbandry department on Thursday stated that over 50% of the 44 dead bird samples in Maharashtra had so far tested positive for avian influenza.
The department received the test results of the 44 samples on Thursday. Thane district had the maximum positive samples (7), followed by Nanded (6).
Out of the 44 samples, eight poultry samples from Parbhani, Latur, Beed and Nanded districts tested positive for bird flu.Thirteen poultry bird samples from Akola, Amravati, Ahmednagar, Pune and Solapur tested negative.
Nine crow samples from Mumbai, Beed, Thane, Ratnagiri, Nashik and Nanded tested positive for bird flu. Ten samples of birds such as heron, parrot and sparrow, from Parbhani, Latur, Thane, Nashik and Ahmednagar have tested positive.
“In exercise of the powers conferred under the Prevention And Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009, the Maharashtra government in a recent notification has conferred all its powers on the district collectors for the prevention, control and eradication of avian influenza within their local jurisdiction,” animal husbandry commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh told TOI.
The local administration now has to undertake the process of declaration of “alert zone” in an area from where mortality in poultry birds (suspected to have died of bird flu) has occurred, apart from implementing necessary precautions and preventive measures under these conferred powers.
“We have seen that most crow deaths have occurred due to bird flu in Maharashtra. The district collectors can implement the local restrictions and surveillance where such deaths have been reported. For positive samples in poultry birds, the collectors could give culling orders within one km radius of the infected zone,” said Singh.