New Delhi: The Maharashtra government on Sunday culled 40,000 poultry birds in Navapur in Nandurbar district, which is located 340 km north of Mumbai, to control the outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza in the region, news reports said.
According to the Indian Express, eight samples from nearly 5,000 dead poultry birds from the Navapur poultry units were sent for testing. All the samples which were sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases for avian influenza test returned positive.
In 2006, India reported its first bird flu outbreak in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Back then, nearly 10 lakh birds were culled or died in Navapur after the region became the epicentre of the bird flu outbreak in the state.
According to the report, there are around 27 layer poultry farms in Navapur, and around 11-12 farms are within the infected zone.
Last week, Pune reported its first case of Avian influenza following the death of 17 poultry birds in Dhayari. News reports said that authorities have planned to cull around 300 birds within a 1 km radius from the infected zone.
Recently, Delhi reported several positive cases among crows and ducks.
So far, cases of bird flu have been reported in 11 states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.
Also read: Avian Influenza Outbreak: How Safe Is It to Eat Poultry Meat, Eggs?
The poultry market has taken a hit as people are becoming more apprehensive about the spread of the virus to humans.
How serious is the outbreak?
According to an NDTV report, animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh recently said in a tweet with a government advisory that it is safe to eat “fully cooked eggs and chicken”. He said that to kill the heat-sensitive virus, experts suggest boiling eggs till the yolk and white are firm, and ensuring the meat is cooked all the way through, or not pink in the centre.
Since the avian influenza virus is sensitive to heat, cooking at 70º C will certainly kill the virus.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) had released a statement about bird flu outbreaks in several countries including Taiwan and Japan to a number of European countries. More than 48 lakh birds died or were culled in December 2020.
Also read: Bird Flu: Kerala Poultry Farmers Demand Better Compensation, Advanced Lab
Avian influenza or bird flu is caused by type A influenza viruses. The tested samples found the infection is caused by H5N1, which is considered a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) variant. While bird flu outbreak in Himachal Pradesh has been caused by H5N1, the samples from Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have shown the presence of H5N8 variant, an India Today report said.
Between 2003 and 2020, officials have reported 862 human cases of H5N1 infections to the WHO, while no cases of H5N8 infection in humans have been found yet. Also, there has been no convincing evidence of human to human transmission of the virus, The Wire Science reported.
According to studies, H5N1 viruses spread from poultry to humans primarily by contact with respiratory secretions, faeces, blood and the organs of infected birds.