13 districts affected by Bird Flu in West Bengal

New Delhi, Jan 29 (UNI) The number of bird flu affected districts has gone up from 11 to 13 in West Bengal as the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries have notified Avian Influenza in two more districts of South 24 Parganas and West Medinipore in the state.

According to an official release here today, 42 blocks covering 2600 villages and four municipalities are involved in the affected 13 districts. Out of these, 1027 villages are in 0-3 Km area where a population of 8,39,246 are under daily surveillance. 1998 cases of fever/URI have been reported. Two of these had contact history with poultry. There are 1573 villages under surveillance zone of 3-10 kms where a population of 6,96,133 have been surveyed. There had been 1284 cases of fever/URI and none of whom had exposure history.

The manpower under Pulse-Polio programme supported by WHO has been requested to conduct surveillance for reporting influenza like illness in the districts, adjoining affected areas of West Bengal.

This includes the bordering districts of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tripura and Orissa.

The situation is being monitored on a daily basis.

A control room is functioning here in Delhi from the Emergency Medical Relief Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the release added.

UNI/BKS KK ND1815