The cause of the death of more than 1 lakh birds in the poultry hub of Barwala in Haryana’s Panchkula district since December remains a mystery two days after 80 samples were sent to a Jalandhar laboratory, prompting the authorities to collect samples afresh on Tuesday.
The cause of the death since December of more than 1 lakh birds in the Barwala poultry hub in the Panchkula district of Haryana remains a mystery two days after 80 samples were sent to the Jalandhar laboratory, prompting the authorities on Tuesday to collect samples again.
NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES: LAB DIRECTOR
Dr Mohinder Pal Singh, director of RDDL, said: “We received four bird samples on Sunday.” However, from the four samples, we did not determine the cause of death of birds in such vast numbers.
“As bird flu has spread in adjoining areas, we don’t want to take any risk. We are taking the death of the large number of poultry birds seriously. We have sent a four-member team of experts to Barwala to collect fresh samples. The reports will be out on Wednesday evening,” he said.
IF BIRD FLU, SAMPLES TO BE SENT TO BHOPAL
The director said that in case the samples tested positive for bird flu then according to protocol, the samples will be sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal for confirmation, as it is the final authority to declare any kind of virus.
Considered the second largest poultry hub in Asia, with a daily production of more than 1 crore eggs and employing 15,000 employees at about 120 farms, over the past few days, the area has seen more than 1 lakh chickens die on 10 farms.
Bird flu or avian influenza may spread to humans and can cause infection from person to person.
While the Panchkula administration has not exchanged updated mortality estimates, an official, seeking anonymity, said: “Deaths have increased manifold.” A poultry farmer in Barwala, who did not want to be identified, said that since December17, more than 1 lakh chickens had died on his farm alone.
