Punjab on Wednesday became the sixth State in the country to report avian flu in poultry birds after Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to an official release here.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) said avian flu was confirmed in samples collected from Dera Bassi in SAS Nagar tested at the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) .

Ramesh Chander Khatri, President of Indian Poultry Federation, said the avian flu strain found in these birds – H5N8 – is not known to spread to people who consume poultry products, but still there is an unnecessary scare among people. As a result, the prices of poultry have halved in north Indian markets whereas it plummeted by up to 30 per cent in other markets, he said.

DAHD also said control and containment operations are going on in the affected epicentres in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

A Central monitoring team visited Satara, Latur, Parbani and Beed districts of Maharashtra and carried out epidemiological studies. The department said the States are reporting the incidence on a daily basis. Besides, at the behest of DAHD, the Ministry of Civil Aviation requested the Director General of Civil Aviation to advise the airlines to allow transportation of the suspected samples to NIHSAD for getting them tested for bird flu at the earliest.

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