By IANS
Imphal : The Manipur government sounded a health alert Wednesday after laboratory tests confirmed that bird flu had killed more than a hundred chickens earlier this month, officials said.
"A general alert has been sounded across the state after the Indian health and animal husbandry departments confirmed that tests carried out on chickens that died at a small poultry farm here have tested positive for bird flu," Bimal Singh, an official at the Manipur chief minister's office, told IANS.
Some 132 chickens died earlier this month at a poultry farm in village Chenngmeirong near state capital Imphal, prompting authorities to send samples to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal for tests.
"Chickens and other livestock are being culled in a radius of five km around the farm where the deaths were reported," said a senior veterinary official who did not wish to be named.
The state government formed a Rapid Response Team Wednesday to deal with the outbreak of bird flu in the state.
"A high level meeting involving health, veterinary, and other officials is currently on to work out strategies to combat bird flu spreading to new areas," Singh said.
"There is no cause for alarm as all preventive measures are being worked out."
Health officials said there were no immediate reports of humans contracting the virus.
"We are keeping a check on the health status of the workers in the farm where the chicken deaths were reported. Health checks are on and we are monitoring the situation," a health department official said.
There has been no reported case of bird flu in other states of the northeast, but the spread of the virus in Manipur has led to panic in the region.
"People have already stopped eating chicken or even eggs," said Mani Singh, a local businessman in Imphal.