INDIA: 8 MORE B.F. SUSPECTS/ TOTAL 11

Hospitals lost in flu quagmire

(The Times of India Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)NEW DELHI:

"Despite the health minister's claims to the contrary, city hospitals are yet to wake up to the threat of bird flu.

Even till Tuesday evening, doctors at most hospitals seemed clueless on what precautions and protocols to follow in case the flu hits Delhi."

Whole story: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/02/22/1398115.htm

How can these major city hospitals be so complacent?

More birds are dying, not just in Navapur
Thursday February 23 2006 08:33 IST

ENS & PTI

NANDURBAR: About 60 km away from Ground Zero of Navapur’s bird flu scare, a village deep inside Nandurbar taluka is keeping a death vigil as its domestic poultry drop dead by the dozens every day. On Tuesday, animal husbandry officials finally rushed a dead bird and five serum samples by cab to Bhopal, to test the samples for the flu.

But until the test results indicate whether the birds are dying of Ranikhet disease, the flu or another cause, Koknepada village in the taluka is living with no precautions, no control measures against the potential risk in its midst.

On Wednesday, this website's newspaper wandered through the village and watched the village’s poultry die, right inside houses and next to children. Residents say the sickness started over the past four days.

There was Gangu (5), who played with a sick white hen in his hut, minutes before it died and was thrown in the open village garbage dump.

‘‘I’ve never seen our poultry die so rapidly, in such numbers. This sickness started in the last three days,’’ said Dasrath Lalji, a storeowner who has lost four birds in the last three days. When asked how many of his birds were left, he looked around to count, and found another of his birds that was dying before us.

Within half-an-hour of this website's newspaper visiting the village, there was also Dilip Walvi who sauntered back from the village dump to tell us he had just disposed of a dead chicken, and Rewa Walvi who said his bird had died just before we arrived.

The villagers here say the officials who left with the samples neither explained safer methods to bury the dead birds nor warned them against handling sick poultry. “I’ve heard of bird flu in Navapur, but only on TV,” says Uttam Konkani. ‘‘But the officials who came yesterday did not explain anything we should do. They just told us not to eat chicken.”

But this village has lost its appetite already.

Tourism not hit by flu fears, says ministry

• NEW DELHI: Tourism Ministry officials in Delhi are relieved that inbound tourists to the country have not so far cancelled their bookings in the wake of the bird flu outbreak in Navapur, Maharashtra. The day after traces of the flu virus were found in Navapur’s poultry, the ministry sent advisory letters to all its 16 overseas offices, directing them to inform major tour operators and travel companies of the real situation in the country.

The overseas Indian tourist offices have already replied saying that travel companies and tour operators handling Indian destinations have all confirmed that there have been no cancellations so far. Says a ministry official, ‘‘Our offices in New York, Frankfurt and Los Angeles have sent us replies saying all major operators have been contacted and told about the localisation of the bird flu outbreak. They have assured us by mail that there is no panic nor cancellation.’’This is also confirmed by major international airlines bringing inbound passengers to India. Airlines that have responded favourably so far include Air Canada and Lufthansa, says the official.

Further, hotels in major metros have not informed of any cancellations in the next 10 days, officials say.

Gujarat: Culling over, disinfection begins

• AHMEDABAD: With culling over in Gujarat, the state government has begun disinfecting all poultry farms in Surat district and those near Navapur in Maharashtra, officials said on Wednesday.

The entry of chicken into Gujarat, and intra-state transportation of fowls have been banned, they added. The government has also begun disbursing compensation to poultry farm owners. So far, Rs 30 lakh has been distributed, the sources said.

India, England teams will get their chicken

• NAGPUR: The avian flu threat won’t push chicken off the menu of the Indian and England cricket teams. “Both teams will be served chicken,’’ says G Bhattacharya, the general manager of Hotel Pride, which is hosting both teams due to begin the first test here on March 1.

‘‘Since chicken is cooked at not less than 70 degrees Centigrade, the virus is killed. We may go in for higher temperature to be hundred per cent sure,” he said.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP2006022222115 8&Page=P&Title=Nation&Topic=%2D447 &