Over 300 birds found dead in Parbhani poultry

Sachindrapratap Singh, animal husbandry commissioner of Maharashtra, said that they had received the report of 323 birds dying in a backyard poultry in Parbhani

The death of over 300 birds in a backyard poultry firm in Parbhani has set out alarm bells across the state. While experts from the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences have attributed the death to Ranikhet (virulent New Castle Disease), the animal husbandry commissionerate has dispatched the samples to Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases to rule out chances of bird flu in the animal carcasses.

Sachindrapratap Singh, animal husbandry commissioner of Maharashtra, said that they had received the report of 323 birds dying in a backyard poultry in Parbhani. “Our local team had taken samples and after collating samples from Beed and Ratnagiri, they were dispatched to the Bhopal-based laboratory for ruling out of the dreaded bird flu,” he said. Singh, however, added that the Parbhani-based institute has already ruled out avian influenza and had attributed the death to the Ranikhet disease.

Ranikhet disease is a viral disease affecting the poultry birds that can wreck havoc due to its high mortality rate in the birds. While this can be transmitted to human, the virus is known to have caused mild fever or conjunctivitis in humans. Avian Influenza on the other hand is known to be fatal in humans if transmitted.

Singh said that they have already restricted the movement of birds and material from the affected firm and the district authorities have been alerted. Extra precautions are being taken in view of the reportage of bird flu cases from various parts of the country. On Friday, Haryana also reported cases of bird flu after similar reports came in from Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan. Maharashtra had last reported the presence of avian influenza in 2006 after which the state has not seen a single case

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