Kottayam: As the authorities intensified preventive steps against bird flu in the district, 1,890 ducks were culled in Aymanam panchayat and another 1,246 in Kumarakom on Thursday.
This was carried out by a 60- member squad divided into ten teams, said Dr P. Saseendran Nair, district animal husbandry officer.
The culling was done in areas where bird flu was confirmed. “Two cases of bird flu were confirmed in the district one at the private farm of Jose of Attipeedika near Kumarakom and the other among the ducks belonging to Raghu, a farmer of Aymanam. “We will cull all the birds in the area to ward off the threat to human beings,” Dr Saseendran Nair said.
Though ducks died under suspicious circumstances in Thalayazham, Vechoor and Chengalam, in the laboratory tests the samples were found to be negative.
The samples were again sent to the laboratory for confirmation. Kottayam DMO Dr Iysha Bhai said the doctors’ team had visited some 908 houses in the district to check for bird flu infection. “They reported 26 fever cases, but no suspected case of bird flu was noticed,” Dr Iysh Bhai added.
