Image Source: Greater Kashmir

Agencies:

Bird flu: No domestic birds found infected yet

Srinagar
February 11, 2021

Amid avian influenza fears, the Poultry Division today said that no domestic birds in Kashmir region had been found infected with the virus, among the 430 samples that had been tested.

Avian influenza has been confirmed in samples taken from dead crows and droppings in six districts of Kashmir, Joint Director Poultry (Animal and Sheep Husbandry Department), Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Shah said. He said that 430 samples had been tested in Kashmir till date. Of these, he said, in the previous week, more samples from wild crows had been found positive. However, no sample from poultry farms and backyard birds had been found infected with the virus.

�We have tested over 300 targeted samples in addition to testing 130 samples from areas where mortality was reported from,� Dr Shah said.

In Jammu region, Dr Shah said, avian influenza had been reported in domestic birds from �a couple of districts�. He said Kashmir had taken additional measures to safeguard poultry. �No poultry is being allowed into the Kashmir region before it is tested,� he said adding that the samples were being tested at Lakhanpur.

The Poultry Division, he said, was set to start advanced ELISA tests for avian flu at Zakura facility. �We are procuring the kits and that would help us to further increase our capacity as well as reliability in testing,� he said.