Bird flu detected in western MP

Bhopal, Mar 28 (UNI) After Maharashtra and Gujarat, avian influenza was detected in western Madhya Pradesh with one poultry sample from Ichhapur in Burhanpur district testing positive today.

''One sample from Ichhapur, adjoining flu-hit Jalgaon in Maharashtra, tested positive from among 135 samples from about two dozen villages examined at the city-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory,'' State Veterinary Services Commissioner Rajesh Rajora told UNI.

The Central Government also notified the presence of avian influenza in Madhya Pradesh, he said, adding the state government has also sounded a high alert.

As many as 28 rapid response teams had been constituted in the district and about 7,000 birds identified for culling from tomorrow.

Eighteen pits had been dug for this purpose.

About 1,900 poultry samples from the state had been tested so far in the laboratory and only one tested positive. The samples tested include 135 poultry that died in Ichhapur area between March 16 and 22.

UNI SD-SP AC PK HT1545