Tens of thousands of poultry will be killed in India after an outbreak of deadly avian influenza has been found to have killed hundreds of birds across the region, officials said Tuesday.
At least six Indian states have stepped up efforts to control two strains of bird flu—H5N1 and H5N8—in recent days after the deaths of thousands of migratory birds, ducks, crows, and chickens.
H5N8, a subtype of Avian influenza among poultry and wild birds, has spread across several countries since the beginning of last year.
Officials in northern Himachal Pradesh state said that carcasses had been found in the Himalayan lake over the past week.
“The death toll in the last week or so at the Pong lake crossed 2,400 migratory birds. Over 600 birds died on Monday,” said State Wildlife Chief Archana Sharma to AFP.
Samples sent to the Indian National Institute of High Protection Animal Diseases tested positive for H5N1, officials said.
Most of the dead were Central Asian high-altitude bar-headed geese—one of the world’s highest-flying birds—that migrated to South Asia in their thousands during the winter season.
Local authorities have prohibited the sale and export of poultry in the region and have stepped up checks to monitor the spread of poultry.
The mass deaths came amid a cull of nearly 35,000 poultry in southern Kerala state, where an H5N8 virus outbreak killed up to 12,000 ducks.
Authorities reported that the slaughter was ordered within one kilometer (0.6 miles) of the infection’s epicenter.
In northern Haryana state authorities, nearly 150,000 chickens have been mysteriously killed in several poultry farms in the Barwala district. Neighboring Punjab also registered similar deaths.
More than 20 farms confirmed that an “unknown disease” had wiped out their flocks and that samples had been sent to laboratories for testing.
Rajasthan had seen almost 4,500 crows and herons die of avian influenza for many months.
India has experienced bouts of devastating bird flu outbreaks in recent decades, most seriously in 2008, when millions of poultry were killed.
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