Smugglers exacerbate bird flu outbreak in India

Jul 30 2007

India's latest bird flu outbreak has been further complicated by poultry farmers in the country's northeast attempting to smuggle flocks of chickens out of a quarantine zone.

The outbreak of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in Manipur is causing concern and although no humans have been infected to date state health officials say blood samples taken from workers on the affected farm in the western city of Pune are being tested.

Health workers have culled almost 40,000 poultry and destroyed thousands of eggs and a 10 km surveillance zone around Imphal is expected to be extended to other districts following reports that a large number of chickens has been smuggled out of the affected zone.

Authorities say in all 150,000 poultry will be culled within the quarantine zone and it is the prospect of losing their livelihood which is prompting the smuggling operations.

Local residents are said to be alerting the police to people trying to sneak chickens and poultry products out of the quarantine area.

A veterinary worker in Manipur who died suddenly during the culling operations was not a bird flu victim but died after consuming formalin issued by the government for spraying at the burial sites of culled birds.

His death created some panic amongst workers in the rapid response teams sent to deal with the outbreak.

Officials have revealed that they have detected poultry smuggled out of Imphal in Thoubal and Bishenpur and authorities have seized 1,500 chickens smuggled out of the affected zone.

So far more than a dozen farmers have been detained by the police but the state government has promised farmers compensation to the tune of 40 rupees ($1) for every one of their chickens it has to cull.

The northeastern region of India has Bangladesh, Myanmar and China on it's borders and all have also been hit by the H5N1 strain.

Indian troops on the state's border with Myanmar have now begun extra patrols to prevent poultry smuggling.

Last year, India faced two major outbreaks of the H5N1 strain in chickens in the west of the country.

According to the World Health Organization since 2003, almost 200 people have died out of more than 300 people infected by the virus around the world and the fear remains that the virus will ultimately mutate into a form which is easily passed between humans.