India confirms bird flu outbreak as H5N1 strain

India has confirmed that the latest outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the remote northeast is the H5N1 strain. India is the latest and 25th country to report an outbreak of the H5N1 strain this year. Investigation of the source of the outbreak began after more than 130 birds died. The Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health confirmed it as the H5N1 strain. The confirmation of the H5N1 strain came after authorities received the results from two government laboratories. Neighbouring states, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan, have also witnessed outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of bird flu this year in poultry. The WHO statistics point out that, since 2003, a total of 192 people have died out of 319 people infected by the virus worldwide. However, there have been no reports of a human-to-human transmission of bird flu yet in India. India had declared itself bird-flu free in August last year after two major outbreaks of the H5N1 virus in chickens in western India where around a million birds were culled to contain those outbreaks. Government workers plan to slaughter about 150,000 poultry in a 5-km (3-mile) radius around the affected farm in Manipur state, which lies on the border with Myanmar. Health workers will check for signs of flu among thousands of people around the poultry farm in Chingmeirong village on the outskirts of Imphal, the state capital 1,700 km (1,050 miles) from New Delhi. Officials have set up health checkpoints at busy bus stops and at Imphal airport to monitor passengers. Protective gear for veterinary and health workers was being airlifted to the tiny state, as were fogging machines for disinfecting poultry farms. None of the people on the affected farm or veterinary workers dealing with the outbreak are showing flu symptoms, but they have been put on the anti-flu drug, Tamiflu as a preventive step. The home ministry has asked border guards to increase security on the frontiers of the isolated northeast region, connected to the rest of India by a sliver of land and surrounded by Myanmar, China and Bangladesh. Also, authorities have set up a special ward for any suspected human cases of bird flu in a government hospital in Imphal. India has close to 500 million chickens, of which around 40 per cent is backyard poultry. The poultry industry lost millions of rupees during last year's outbreaks as many consumers stopped eating chicken and eggs. But, New Delhi has banned poultry trade with bird flu-hit nations such as China, Bangladesh and Myanmar.