Animal Husbandry Minister K Atchannaidu has said there is no cause for panic over the bird flu in Andhra Pradesh, as the H5N1 virus affected only four regions so far.
Chicken shops in deserted look due to Bird Flu disease in Vijayawada on Wednesday. — C. NARAYANA RAO
Vijayawada: Animal Husbandry Minister K Atchannaidu has said there is no cause for panic over the bird flu in Andhra Pradesh, as the H5N1 virus affected only four regions so far. “With the rise in day temperature, the virus is getting killed,” he said.
The minister told the media on Wednesday that the virus could survive only up to 70 degrees Celsius, while the chicken meat and eggs are cooked at over 100 degrees Celsius. “There is no chance for the virus to survive even if the meat and eggs were infected with the virus,” he said.
He rubbished the misinformation campaign that a large number of birds were getting perished due to this infection, and also “some kind of tom-tom being carried out” at some places, advising the people to avoid eating chicken and eggs. “Please ignore all such campaigns,” he said.
The minister said AP was having a total of 10.78 crore birds. Of these, 2.32 crore were country fowls (Natu Kodi) while the remaining 8.46 crore were layers and broilers.
“Some 2.2 lakh birds perished in Eluru district, 2.5 lakh in Velpur in West Godavari, 65,000 in Kanuru in East Godavari and 7,000 in Gampalagudem in NTR district so far. Over 14,000 birds and 340 eggs were culled and buried,” the minister said.
When only 5.42 lakh birds perished out of the 10.78 crore birds, that too only in four to five poultry farms, why is a panic like situation being created, he wondered.
Atchannaidu said the department of animal husbandry along with other stakeholder departments was on a high alert by declaring the 10km distance area from the infected poultry farm a ‘red zone’ and imposing curbs on transport of birds and eggs from such zones.
He said the birds in some poultry farms were affected only because those farmers failed to comply with the norms like administering timely vaccination to the birds and proper maintenance of sanitation in the farms.
On reports about curbs effected by Telangana and West Bengal, disallowing birds and eggs from AP into those states, the minister said he would hold talks with them and resolve the issue.
The minister also said these birds perished some time ago. The Bhopal-based lab’s report confirming that those birds were infected with bird flu came on Tuesday. “In this context, there was panic in some parts of the state. But, there is no cause for worry. The intensity of the virus is getting dissipated with rise in temperature in the last few days,” he stated.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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