Dev Kumar Sunuwar

DEV KUMAR SUNUWAR
KATHMANDU, FEB 12 –

The government has claimed to have controlled the recent bird flu outbreak in parts of the popular tourist destination of Pokhara.

“In a couple of days, the government will declare the area bird-flu free,” said Dr. Pravakar Pathak, director general of the Department of Livestock under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. On Feb. 4, the government had declared the outbreak of avian influenza on the basis of a lab test conducted on about 100 chickens and 38 ducks–belonging to Gyan Bahadur Khadka of Gariapatan–in the London-based Weybridge Lab.

Subsequently, it had declared a ‘bird flu-affected area’ within the radius of one kilometre in Gharipatan with Khadka’s poultry farm as the centrepoint. On the day bird flu was confirmed, the government formed a committee under Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav, directing it to take measures to control the spread of H5N1 virus, which causes the fatal flu.

A day after the outbreak was announced, the Cabinet decided to deploy a Rapid Response Team to the affected area and put the area under close surveillance to prevent further spread of the virus. As a preventive measure, the government imposed a blanket ban on the movement of poultry products to and from Pokhara. The team also took a number of measures in the area to control the virus, such as culling and sanitisation, according to Dr. Pathak.

“As of Friday, the team has culled over 10,500 ducks and chickens in the bird flu-affected area and destroyed poultry products such as eggs, feed and meat, and compensated the farmers for their loss,” said Dr. Pathak. On top of all these, the team conducted random checks to see if anyone has hidden the birds to prevent another possible outbreak, according to Dr. Pathak.

“The virus strain that caused bird flu in Pokhara was more dangerous than the strain seen in other parts of the country in the past. But the virus was not found in humans,” according to Dr. Shyam Sundar Misra, coordinator of the Avian Influenza Control Programme under the Ministry of Health.