Punjab: Samples taken from two Mohali poultry farms test positive for bird flu

Everyday 50 samples of bird dropping are being sent for testing, they said.Punjab sounded an alert earlier this month after bird flu cases were reported from several states and union territories in north India, including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Samples taken from two poultry farms and a dead crow in Punjab's Mohali district, which reported the state's first bird flu case, tested positive for the influenza on Wednesday, officials said. Reports of the samples from the farms and the crow were received on Wednesday, while for the first case, the report of samples taken from a dead bar-headed goose was received in Tuesday, they said.

Earlier in the day, the officials of the forest and wildlife preservation department had said that goose's samples tested positive for the flu's H5N1 strain.

''The samples of two poultry farms tested positive for H5N8 (bird flu strain) at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases lab in Bhopal,'' a senior official of the Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (NRDDL) in Jalandhar said.

Samples were taken from two poultry farms at Behra village in Mohali district's Dera Bassi and were sent to NIHSAD for confirmation on January 15 after the NRDDL stated them as suspected to be bird flu positive.

The report was received on Wednesday, the official said.

The sample taken from the dead crow has also tested positive for avian influenza.

In the case of the goose, the officials said that samples taken from it were sent to NRDDL for testing on January 8 and after tests were conducted, it was suspected that the bird died of avian influenza. ''Yesterday, we received a report which found it (samples) to be positive for H5N1,'' said an official of the department, adding that the goose was found dead at the Siswan Dam reservoir.

The officials said that a team of the animal husbandry department had also visited the reservoir area. Everyday 50 samples of bird dropping are being sent for testing, they said.

Punjab sounded an alert earlier this month after bird flu cases were reported from several states and union territories in north India, including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)