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This story is from December 17, 2014

Government confirms avian flu at Chandigarh's Sukhna lake

The dreaded avian influenza, H5N1, has been confirmed in one of the 30 domesticated ducks (geese) that died at the Sukhna lake, Chandigarh.
Government confirms avian flu at Chandigarh's Sukhna lake
CHANDIGARH: The dreaded avian influenza, H5N1, has been confirmed in one of the 30 domesticated ducks (geese) that died at the Sukhna lake, Chandigarh. While measures to isolate the 100-plus geese population at the lake were underway this afternoon, tourists using boats were moving around the geese and youngsters were even seen climbing the island where the geese have been contained.
This confirmation of the avian flu was revealead in the letter marked as "very urgent" and dispatched by Rajbir Singh Rana, Joint Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, ministry of agriculture, government of India, to the Central Poultry Development Organization (CDPO), Northern Region, Chandigarh, on December 16.
The letter titled, 'Confirmation of H5N1 in ducks (geese) at Sukhna lake in Chandigarh', states that "with reference to the mortality in some ducks (geese), one sample has been found positive for H5N1."
The test on five of the dead ducks (geese) from the Sukhna lake were carried out first at the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar, which had then further sent the samples to India's leading research station, the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, to conduct advanced tests using the latest hi-tech equipment. The avian flu was confirmed in one of the duck (geese) samples by the NIHSAD.
According to the guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation to contain avian flu, which can spread between birds and onto humans as it contagious and packs high mortality, birds within a radius of 1 km have to be culled. While wild birds will be difficult to catch and cull, the measures will require culling of the Sukhna geese and poultry within a kilometre radius of the outbreak spot at the lake. Nearly 2 lakh birds were culled in Kerala recently due to the outbreak of the avian influenza, H5N1.

Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh. (TOI photo by Agam Mahey).
Rana has directed the CDPO to take all "necessary measures for prevention of the disease. Special care has to be taken with regard to the migratory birds and unsual mortality in them."
The UT Administration, Chandigarh, held a meeting this morning chaired by the Advisor to the Administrator. The Director of the UT Animal Husbandry department was appointed as the nodal officer to contain the outbreak. UT officials at the lake were taking measures to fence off the island where the geese had been contained. "We are not going to allow any government personnel or doctor to go the island without masks and gloves. According to the WHO guidelines, people and birds within a kilometre radius of affected area are at risk," a UT Forest department official told TOI this afternoon.
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