Still clueless at Ground Zero as bird flu spreads in Bengal

Specially trained teams would dig up pits where villagers would be told to throw the birds and collect receipts for the losses sustained. The government has announced Rs 1 crore compensation for Birbhum residents and Rs 26 lakh for South Dinajpur. Locals will be told not to rear poultry for the next six months.

Officials said this outbreak was different from the earlier ones in the country because the affected birds were the domestic, country-bred variety. They said the outbreak source pointed to neighbouring Bangladesh. Cross-border traffic is rampant at Margram and Balurghat in South Dinajpur and people routinely carry livestock.

According to officials, bird flu was first detected in Rampurhat but has now spread to all eight blocks of the sub-division. Even Murshidabad district has reported dead birds.

The slow response to the outbreak is being blamed for the spread of the disease. A large number of birds have died in Nalhati blocks 1 and 2, Muraroi 1 and 2, Rampurhat 1 and 2, and Mayureshwar. The disease has also spread to Khargram in Murshidabad, bordering Margram.

8220;We are doing what we can. The problem has spread to neighbouring areas, including other blocks of the sub-division and the neighbouring district. A large number of chicks have died. We are drawing up a plan to contain and combat. Culling was not done today, but will start shortly. We have opened a control room and are training 600 people who will visit villages for culling operations. Some teams were sent to the villages for a survey today. We have also sent teams to spray disinfectant,8221; said Dilip Das who is heading the operations here.

Dr Sunil Bhowmick, Birbhum8217;s chief medical officer, said: 8220;We are training 50 teams of five members each. They will soon go house-to-house to spread awareness. We are also opening one or two isolation wards.8221;

At Margram, the backyard poultry population is estimated to be around 150,000. Nearly 90 per cent of this stock is dead 8212; dead birds still litter the area though many have been buried.

When The Indian Express visited the Margram primary health centre, only a few staff members were present and they had no idea about the flu or the threat. The centre, the nearest health facility for villagers, had no stocks of the Tamiflu drug. Nor was there any protective gear for the staff.

8220;We have heard about the bird flu outbreak but there has been no official communication. No material or medicine has reached the centre,8221; said Sovarani Das, the nurse on duty.

In the village, it was the same picture of ignorance 8212; children played next to the dead birds. Two children, who feasted on dead birds 10 days ago, are ill and a health team, led by the Block Medical Officer of Health, visited the Malibagan Para.

Dr Abhijit Chakraborty, BMOH, said they had visited the house of Ghaffar Sheikh. 8220;We have noted what has happened. We are keeping a watch on the children as they are most vulnerable in this case,8221; said Dr Chakraborty.

The children were identified as Anarul Sheikh 7 and Tumpa Khatun 8. Their father said 8220;all the birds died, we cooked and ate two of them, later the children had high fever.8221;

In other areas like Mahipara in Margram, the situation is the same. 8220;No health official has visited us so far. Village leaders told us that some kind of a disease is killing our chicken. No awareness camps have been held here. I had 13 birds, they are all dead,8221; said Sheikh Shamsher of Mahipara.

As culling starts tomorrow, a team of experts from the Union Health Ministry will start collecting throat swabs of people showing 8220;unusual8221; symptoms. 8220;The swabs will be collected and taken either to the National Institute of Virology NIV or National Institute of Communicable Diseases NICD for investigation. This is to keep a tab on the health situation of the people in the area,8221; said Dr Shiv Lal, Director, NICD.

The Centre, as a precautionary measure, restricted trade and movement of poultry birds in these two districts. 8220;The Bengal government was also advised to seal the border with neighbouring countries and also the affected areas so that there is no movement of animals across these borders,8221; an official statement added.