NEPAL: Bird flu returns

KATHMANDU, 24 February 2009 (IRIN) - Bird flu has reappeared in Jhapa District, nearly 500km south-east of the capital, Kathmandu, despite government efforts to control the deadly virus.

The Himalayan nation confirmed its first case of the H5NI virus on 16 January.

Barely a week earlier the government reported that the risk had been contained after culling more than 28,000 chickens and other birds in the area.

But on 20 February, the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Kathmandu and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Reference Laboratory, Weybridge, in London confirmed the H5NI strain in six chicken samples collected from a poultry farm in Sharamati Village Development Committee (VDC) in the district. The samples had been sent to the labs after 150 chickens died.

“Our rapid response team [RRT] has been working actively to control the virus,” said senior government official Hari Dahal, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), which is leading control efforts.

According to the agriculture minister, the rapid response teams have culled more than 1,000 chickens, ducks, pigeons and eggs in the areas around Sharamati.

Places including Pathnapada, Biringkhola, Tangandubba and Mechetole, near the Indian border in the south, have been declared emergency areas.

The government hopes to complete the culling process soon given that there are not many poultry farms with more than 9,000 chickens.

Growing concerns

However, even government officials expressed concern that as a landlocked country, Nepal remained at risk given its geographical proximity to China and India, which have a history of bird flu epidemics.

A week ago, a team of experts from the UN Crisis Management Centre-Animal Health (CMC-AH) warned of significant risks after visiting affected areas in the eastern region in the first week of February.

They stressed the urgent need for more laboratory equipment and upgrades for effective diagnosis. In addition, there was a crucial need for active surveillance.

Officials told IRIN the government was already planning a three-month-long surveillance campaign in the affected areas. It has also banned the transportation of poultry products countrywide.

The MOAC has issued strict instructions to officials to quarantine border areas, with particular attention to the Nepal-India border, which stretches about 1,800km in the south.

Meanwhile, the west of the country has also been put on high alert, according to officials.

"There is no case of bird flu virus but we have been taking extra precautions to avoid any risks,” said Muni Lal Chaudhary, chief of the western region’s Regional Livestock Quarantine Office.

He explained that active testing of poultry had started on farms in Banke, Bardiya and Dang districts and others, more than 500km west of the capital.

At the same time, government teams have been mobilised to alert local communities about the potential dangers.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since 2003 there have been 408 confirmed human cases of avian influenza worldwide, of whom 254 died.

WHO remains concerned that the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with a highly contagious seasonal influenza virus to spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people.