10 January,2017 10:15 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
Seventeen ducks and two ducklings were culled late on Saturday night at Mirasol Lake and Restaurant, Kadaiya village, Daman, after laboratory reports confirmed that the mysterious deaths of two ducklings there earlier, were due to the H5N1 virus known as bird flu/avian influenza
Seventeen ducks and 2 ducklings were culled. Pic for representation
Seventeen ducks and two ducklings were culled late on Saturday night at Mirasol Lake and Restaurant, Kadaiya village, Daman, after laboratory reports confirmed that the mysterious deaths of two ducklings there earlier, were due to the H5N1 virus known as bird flu/avian influenza.
According to Dr M B Sapra, Veterinary Officer, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Daman, in the last week of December, six ducklings hatched, and they started dying one after the other.
They later sent a sample of one of the ducklings to the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal, the only laboratory which conducts tests to confirm presence of H5N1 virus or any other pathogenicity, which might cause an epidemic.
"On Saturday, January 7, evening, we got confirmation from Bhopal that the death of the duckling was due to H5N1 virus. On the basis of this report, the collector gave permission to cull all the ducklings in the lake. All seventeen ducks and two ducklings were killed late Saturday night," Sapra said.
The same night, Karanjit Vadodaria, Deputy Collector (HQ), Daman issued a notification (copy is with this paper), saying Kadaiya village has been notified as an âinfected area' and Daman district is notified as under âsurveillance zone' till February 7, 2017."
Dr Kasim Sultan, Director, Medical Health, Daman said so far they have not found any human affected by the flu.
Mirasol lake restaurant manager Dinesh Borkar said, "The administration swung into action and sealed the restaurant until further notice."
