6 teams for surveillance against Bird Flu in Tiruchirapalli

Tiruchirapalli, Jan 18 (UNI) The district administration has constituted six special teams to maintain strict surveillance on all poultry farms in the wake of the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, according to District Revenue Officer and Collector (in-charge) A Nambirajan.

He told newsperson here today that no case had, however, been detected so far in the district.

Mr Nambirajan said the special teams were conducting intensive checks at all the 16 poultry farms in the district. They would also monitor any unusual death of jungle birds.

The teams would also collect samples of the bird serum and droppings and forward them for testing regularly. Officials have insisted that these measures were only precautionary and there was little chance of the disease spreading to Tamil Nadu, he added.

He said there are 16 private poultry farms in the district and most of them were located in Thottiyam, Michaelnayakanpatti, Manachanallur and Konalai.

A district Task Force Committee, headed by the Collector was already functioning in the district to monitor the situation since the outbreak of the disease in India, a couple of years ago, Mr Nambirajan added.

He said six teams had been formed, one of them from the Animal Diseases Intelligence Unit while two others would be headed by the Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry in Tiruchirapalli and Musiri.

Meanwhile, a report from neighbouring Namakkal district, which has one of the major centres for poultry in Tamil Nadu said the 'Namakkal Egg Zone' had remained untouched by the dreaded virus all these years, including the 2006 outbreak reported in Maharashtra.

According to Namakkal District Collector G Sundaramurthy, District Task Force Committees and 20 Rapid Response Teams had been set up for close monitoring.

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