A recent report has disclosed that the bird flu has gripped Tripura into its jaws.

The laboratory confirmed that the blood and faecal extracts sent from backyard poultry in Tripura were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu virus, which in turn infecting birds in a village, 130 km from the state capital Agartala.

The virus was detached from Kalachari village in Mohanpur block just before it began to cause large scale mortality among birds.

On April 19, Bhopal’s High Security Animal Disease Laboratory reported that the samples sent on April 16 were infected with H5N1.

But, the centre issued the final notification of a new eruption in Tripura on Monday night.

The fresh epidemic occurs a week after Tripura’s 28 rapid response teams (RRTs) curbed the previous H5N1 eruption, which killed more than 3,000 birds in Dhalai region.

U Venkateswarulu, Tripura’s animal resource commissioner stated, “The latest outbreak site is just 40 km from Dhalai. However, Kalachari is just a few metres from the Bangladesh border. We believe illegal trade or movement of poultry between Kalachari and Bangladesh may have caused the virus to return to the state.”

On plans to contain the virus, Mr. Venkateshwarulu told, “Culling operations will begin from Thursday morning and take seven days. Around 15 RRTs are being prepared for the operation. Over 60,000 birds, within a 0-5 km radius of Kalachari, will be culled, most of them being backyard poultry.”