BHOPAL: An alert has been sounded after the outbreak of bird flu in Madhya Pradesh. Nearly 400 crows have died due to viral infection so far in seven to eight districts of the state. According to the directorate of animal husbandry, Madhya Pradesh witnessed the deaths of 142 crows in Indore, 100 in Mandsaur, 112 in Agar-Malwa, 13 in Khargone and nine in Sehore district.
Amid the ongoing corona virus pandemic, the country reported an emergence of bird flu last week. The presence of the virus has been confirmed in the dead birds in Madhya Pradesh. Amid the bird flu scare, chicken, egg shops ordered to stay closed for 15 days in Mandsaur after Mandsaur reported the deaths of 100 crows.
Dr RK Rokde, director, animal husbandry department, said, “Nearly 400 crows have died due to viral infection so far in seven to eight districts in the state. The virus isn’t found in poultry; it’s airborne and there’s no vaccine for it. We believe it came from Rajasthan. The state’s Rapid Response Team is setting up a control-room in Indore, where avian influenza (bird flu) has been detected in samples of dead crows. The animal husbandry department has issued an alert and directed officials to monitor the situation arising out of the mass death of crows in several districts. Their samples were sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for analysis.”
Chicken-and-egg problem
"The Mandsaur authorities have ordered shops selling chicken and eggs to remain closed for 15 days over the scare of bird flu, the presence of which was detected in scores of crows in the state. Since their supply is from Rajasthan, they’ve been banned. We haven’t banned egg and chicken shops in other any part of the state as the chickens there are safe. We’ll mainly monitor these chickens to check bird flu," Dr RK Rokde, director, animal husbandry department, said.