BOMBAY, 15 March 2006 — The government yesterday confirmed bird flu cases in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state, weeks after the country’s first case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza was found in another district of the state.
Some samples of dead birds sent last month to a laboratory in Bhopal from four villages in Jalgaon have tested positive for the global disease that has killed nearly 100 people in Southeast Asia, mainly in Vietnam.
State government officials said a team of experts and doctors had been sent to the affected villages to prevent the spread of the virus. Over 75,000 birds are likely to be culled in the four villages.
Officials said that they were checking whether the latest outbreak was of the deadly H5N1 strain that has killed dozens of people elsewhere in the world. They said four villages in Jalgaon were affected by the outbreak.
Jalgaon is a district away from Nandurbar, where India reported an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain. Hundreds of thousands of chicken were culled in the town of Navapur village and neighboring areas after that outbreak, and the authorities said last week they had contained the virus there.
In Jalgaon, officials said they would start the culling of chicken in the area. “In these four villages, control and prevention actions will be started,” Animal Husbandry Joint Secretary Upma Chawdhry told a news conference.
After the Navapur outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all the results proved negative. The government said it would step up surveillance of residents of the four villages in Jalgaon.
Opposition Boycott
Meanwhile, the opposition Shiv Sena — Bharatiya Janata Party alliance Monday boycotted a tea party hosted by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on eve of the budget session of the Maharashtra Assembly.
The opposition in a confrontation mode, prepared itself for a face-off with the Congress party-led government, demanded dismissal of two ministers — Siddhram Mehtre and Anees Ahmed.
The opposition reiterated its threat of disrupting the proceedings of the house if the ministers were not dropped.
Mehtre was facing allegation about his links with underworld don Chota Rajan and Anees is alleged to have assaulted a Dalit woman.
