Bird flu in India: Government steps in to curb outbreak

It’s only been about three weeks since the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, cautioned that avian flu was back on the rise after a five-year decline around the world.

On Tuesday, the federal government in India announced that it had ordered poultry farms in the eastern part of the country to cull chickens and destroy eggs to rein in an new outbreak of bird flu. Also planned: restricted access to the region and a ban on the movement of poultry, Reuters reported.

Birds will be culled within a nearly two-mile radius of the infected zone, according to reports, and the Indian government will intensify surveillance within a six-mile radius.

A mutant strain of avian influenza -- for which there is no vaccine -- appeared recently in China and Vietnam. But Indian authorities did not specify which strain of the H5N1 virus had been detected in the West Bengal region, which has been a hot spot for avian flu in the past.

If it spreads to humans, bird flu can cause fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, eye infections, pneumonia, respiratory disease and occasionally death.

To track the movement of bird flu, take a look at the FAO’s avian influenza pages, located here.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers additional information on the virus here.

It’s only been about three weeks since the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cautioned that avian flu was back on the rise after

a five-year decline around the world.

On Tuesday, the federal government in India announced that it had ordered poultry farms in the Eastern part of the country to cull chickens and

destroy eggs to rein in an new outbreak of bird flu. Also planned: restricted access to the region, and a ban on the movement of poultry, Reuters

reported.

Birds will be culled within a nearly two-mile radius of the infected zone, according to reports, and the Indian government will intensify surveillance

within a six-mile radius.

A mutant strain of avian influenza -- for which there is no vaccine -- appeared recently in China and Vietnam, but the Indian authorities did not

specify which strain of the H5N1 virus had been detected in the West Bengal region, which has been a hotspot for avian flu in the past.

To track the movement of bird flu, take a look at the FAO’s avian influenza pages, located here [[https://www.fao.org/avianflu/en/index.html]].

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers additional information on the virus here [[https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/]].