Bird flu outbreak in state-run poultry farm in Kerala, 1800 birds dead

Kozhikode (Kerala): A bird flu outbreak has been reported in a state-run poultry farm in Kozhikode district of Kerala as around 1,800 chickens have died of the infection, official sources said.

The presence of the H5N1 variant, which has an additional proliferative capacity, was confirmed among the poultry in the local farm managed by the district panchayat here on Wednesday, the sources said.

J Chinchu Rani, Kerala Minister for Animal Husbandry, gave instructions to take urgent preventive measures as per the Centre's guidelines and protocol in this regard, they said.

As initial tests indicated the outbreak of bird flu, the samples were sent to the high-security lab in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) for accurate diagnosis which confirmed avian influenza, a government statement said.

There were over 5,000 chickens on the farm and of them 1,800 have died so far due to the infection.

It added that the culling and other further procedures would be done with the coordination of various government departments under the aegis of the district authorities.