Bird Flu Near Pune: District Collector Declares Two Villages As Infected Zones In Mulshi And Daund Taluka

Pune, January 16, 2021: Pune district has reported the presence of bird flu in the area. Samples of dead chickens from villages in Mulshi and Daund taluka of the district were found to be ‘positive’, according to a statement issued by the Animal Husbandry Commissionerate late on Friday night.

District Collector Rajesh Deshmukh today issued an order declaring one kilometre radius of Nande in Mulshi taluka and Boribel in Daund taluka as infected zones. Also, surveillance zones have been declared in the 10 km radius of these two villages. The rapid response teams have been directed to cull all poultry birds and eggs, as well as sanitize all the poultry farms in the 10 km radius of these villages. For the next 21 days, there will be a ban on sale, purchase, transport, jatra of poultry birds in the surveillance zones, the order states.

Thirteen hens from Nande in Mulshi taluka and Boribel village in Daund taluka were culled. Samples of these dead chickens were sent to the Western Divisional Diagnostic Laboratory at Aundh. These samples were found to be ‘negative’ in this laboratory test. However, as a precaution, the samples were also sent to a laboratory in Bhopal. Reports of the samples were received from a laboratory in Bhopal late on Friday evening.

The samples tested positive for bird flu. The district administration will destroy all the hens within a radius of one kilometre by declaring the part where the report is ‘positive’ as infected.

 According to the animal husbandry department, till 9 pm on January 15, a total of 982 poultry birds have been found dead in the State of Maharashtra. Out of this, Thane 35, Raigad 4, Satara 9, Sangli 20, Ahmadnagar 151, Beed 25, Latur 253, Osmanabad 7, Amravati 90, Yavatmal 205, Nagpur 45, Wardha 109, Chandrapur 4, Gondia 23 and 2 from Gadchiroli. So far deaths have been reported from 22 districts. Mortality has been observed in other 67 birds like Herons, sparrows, Parrots etc with the break of Mumbai 2, Thane 29, Raigad 1, Ratnagiri 5, Kolhapur 3, Nashik 18, Ahmednagar 2, Latur 1, Nanded 2, Yavatmal 3 and 1 at Wardha. So far, deaths in other birds have been reported from 21 districts. Total 87 crows have been found dead, with breakup of Mumbai 11, Thane 42, Ratnagiri 5, Pune 2, Satara 2, Nashik 1, Jalgaon 2, Parbhani 1, Amravati 11, Yavatmal 1, Buldhana 1, Wardha 6 and Gondia 2. So far, mortality in crows has been reported from 22 districts in the State.

The samples are being sent to National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal and Disease Investigation Section, Pune for testing. It can take 48 to 72 hours to get the results of the testing. A total of 5151 deaths of various birds have been recorded till the date, since 08/01/2021.