Hotwar farm docs, staff test negative for bird flu

Ranchi: Six officials of the regional poultry farm in Hotwar, where a bird flu outbreak was reported last week, tested negative for the H5N1 influenza infection, the farm officials said on Sunday. Of them, two are doctors and four are farm staff, and they were quarantined after the outbreak for two days. They are likely to be released soon.

“Since these doctors and staff at the farm handled the infected and dead birds directly, their throat swabs were collected by a team of doctors from the microbiology department at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) on April 27 for tests. Their test results have returned negative,” Dr Kamlesh Kumar Pingley, the assistant director of the regional poultry farm in Hotwar, told TOI.

Around 136 chicks at the farm died between April 4 and 16. Their samples were sent for tests to Bhopal on April 9, which returned positive on April 22. The staff were quarantined at the JSIA building in Ranchi which had been converted into a bird flu ward.

Ranchi deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha said, “Bird flu has been confirmed in Ranchi. As soon as bird flu was confirmed, a series of actions were taken based on the guidelines mentioned in the Union ministry of animal husbandry.”

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