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Alert sounded in Tripura for avian influenza

By CORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA, Feb 19 � An alert has been sounded in Tripure after outbreak of avian influenza at a government-run poultry farm at RK Nagar in West Tripura district.

As part of preventive measures, Tripura government continues the mass culling operation within 1 km radius of RK Nagar farm where avian influenza broke out recently.

Altogether 2948 chicks and ducks were culled on Friday after H5 strains of Avian Influenza have been confirmed in the poultry samples collected from the state government run farm, about 6 km from the capital town.

�Today culling operation started in the adjacent areas of the farm as part of Central government norms�, said Sriram Tarikanta, Principal Secretary of Animal Resource Development Department (ARDD) here.

He said that specialists from the Centre have already started arriving here to oversee the situation at RK Nagar Farm and the way preventive measures are being taken up.

�There is nothing to get panicked as the ARDD has taken up all possible measures and preventive steps to tackle the situation�, he said adding that an alert had been sounded across the state after the outbreak of avian influenza.

Tarikanta said that the state government had requested the Centre to restrict the culling operation within one km radius of the affected farm in stead of 3 km radius. The move, he said, has been taken to minimize the loss due to culling.

�We are awaiting reply from the Centre�, said he.

In the wake of reappearance of the deadly disease, the Centre had advised that a series of strategic actions are required to be taken immediately in the above area by the ARDD and Health departments.

The actions include declaration of infected and surveillance areas, ban on movement of poultry and its products in the infected area/closure of poultry and egg markets and shops within a radius of 10 km from the infected site, ban on movement of farm personnel, restricting access to wild and stray birds, restricting access to the infected premises, destruction of birds; disposal of dead birds and infected materials, clean-up and disinfection followed by sealing of the premises and issue of sanitization certificate and post operations surveillance.

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