Panel to monitor bird flu in AP

Hyderabad, Apr 16 (UNI) With a view to cleaning the air on bird flu, the Andhra Pradesh government today set up a task force under the Animal Husbandry Department to monitor its incidence on a day-to-day basis.

The district administration and the officials of district labs have been directed to keep a close watch on symptoms of bird flu among birds and people.

The department had already taken a number of measures to contain the damage to the poultry industry in the state from bird flu scare.

Nearly 200 blood samples of birds were being sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HIADL) at Bhopal since 2004-05 with all of them proving negative.

Another 688 samples have sent to the Bhopal lab for verification, an official release here said.

The poultry industry in the state was suffering a daily loss of Rs five crore due rumours and fears on using eggs and chicken meat, it noted.

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