By IANS
Imphal : More than 120,000 poultry have been culled in Manipur during the last five days with authorities ruling out a fresh outbreak of the deadly avian influenza in the state, officials said Monday.
"The operations have been quite successful with people now voluntarily bringing their birds for culling after being aware of the threat it could pose to humans. There are no fresh reports of the bird flu virus spreading in other parts of the state," said K. Gopal, nodal officer of the Animal Disease Control Programme in Manipur.
The culling of an estimated 160,000 birds has been carried out since Thursday in a five km radius from the farm at Chenngmeirong near the state capital Imphal from where the deaths were reported. There are an estimated 800 poultry farms in the area.
"Now we have found out that the number of poultry would be higher than what we estimated as scores of more people are coming with their birds on their own for culling," Gopal told IANS.
About 34 Rapid Response Teams with five members in each group led by a veterinarian are involved in the culling with laboratory tests earlier confirming the dead birds had H5NI strains, which are highly infectious in nature.
Several experts and veterinary department officials from other northeastern states have arrived in Manipur to assist in the culling operations.
"The officials from the other states are here to help us and also gather first hand knowledge on the enormity of the virus," said Th Dorendra Singh, Manipur's veterinary director.
Health officials said there were no immediate reports of humans contracting the virus although a massive surveillance campaign was on to ensure the safety of locals.
"No human infection has been reported so far and we are stepping up surveillance and health checkups," Manipur Health Secretary P. Vaiphei said.
More than 25,000 people living within the five km affected zone have undergone health checkups so far. Some with fever and other respiratory infections have had their blood tested.