Patna Zoo closed after 6 peafowls die

PATNA: Patna Zoo was shut for visitors on Tuesday after the reports confirmed that the death of six peafowls in last four days were due to bird flu. The report came on Monday evening from National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) laboratory, Bhopal, a nodal agency of government of India, where the samples of the birds were sent for testing.
Patna zoo director Amit Kumar told TOI that tests had confirmed the birds died of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.“Following the central government’s standard operating procedure and in the interest of public health, we have shut down the zoo till further order. The expert team at zoo are monitoring the situation to see it does not spread and prepare the action plan to sanitise the zoo before it opens for visitors,” said Amit, who cut short his training programme in Philippines after he received the reports and returned to Patna on Tuesday.
Amit said the analysis of samples collected from peafowl that died in the zoo last week, conducted by the Bhopal-based laboratory, which revealed that the birds were infected with H5N1 virus. “I got the report around 8pm on Monday through telephonic conversation with the officials of NIHSAD and immediately rushed to Patna,” he said adding that the samples were also sent to another laboratory for a second opinion in Kolkata.
A high-level meeting was conducted between the expert committee of Patna zoo and director of animal husbandry to take up measures to contain spread of the disease. Amit claimed strict biosecurity measures are in place at the zoo.
When asked about the preparations of post-bird flu scare in the zoo, the director Amit said, measures to protect the animals have already been taken. “After the death of first peafowl on December 20, the zoo authorities separated the quarantine peafowl from other birds and sent the body part of died peafowl to Bhopal and Kolkata. Because of the timely action of zoo authority, the disease was not reported among the peafowls. The zoo authority was already alert as the bird flu was earlier reported in Munger district,” he said.
The first outbreak of avian influenza was first reported in India in 2006, which commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds. According to the World Health Organisation, most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans. But the H5 strain of the virus can infect human and cause Cough, fever, sore throat, muscle aches, headache, pneumonia, respiratory disease and sometimes death.