Kathmandu, June 26: The Department of Livestock Services has been pursuing efforts to control bird flu by deploying technical teams in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding areas.
The department has increased monitoring by regularly testing samples through various laboratories. Dr Umesh Dahal, the director general of the department, said that since the risk of infection is higher in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kavre, more priority has been given to disease control work in these districts.
Dr Dahal said that the infection that started three months ago has spread to 11 different districts. After bird flu was confirmed in about a hundred chicken farms, the birds, eggs, and feed in those farms were destroyed.
The department, which advised not to keep new chicks for about one and a half months, has called for high alert. The bird flu infection has been confirmed in poultry farms in areas like Chandragiri, Kirtipur, Tokha, Tarakeshwar, Godawari, Changunarayan, and Suryabinayak in the Kathmandu Valley.
Since there is no treatment or effective vaccine for bird flu, it is said that the virus is highly contagious and destroying poultry and other birds is the best option. The department’s director general Dahal mentioned that there is a possibility of transmission to humans as well and urged poultry farmers and consumers to take extra precautions to control the infection quickly.
A bird flu coordination committee has been formed at the centre under the coordination of the department’s Director General, and similar coordination committee has been formed at the district level under the leadership of the Chief District Officer.
According to Mukul Upadhyay, the department’s information officer, on the basis of evidence of destroyed chickens, eggs, and feed, there is a provision to compensate farmers up to 75 percent of the cost price based on the rate determined by the committee from the district.
