KATHMANDU, May 2: Bird flu has claimed the life of a 21-year old man in Kavrepalanchowk district.

This is the first time the H5N1 and HPAI virus has killed a human in Nepal, according to Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun, Chief of Clinical Research Unit at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku.

Ministry of Health, organizing a press conference informed about the death of the 21-year-old by Bird flu. The deceased’s name has been kept confidential.

He had gone to Teku Hospital on March 24 complaining of fever and cough. He was detected Bird flu positive when his saliva was sent to the National Public Health Laboratory for a test. His DNA and blood samples were then sent to Japan for validation. On April 30, Japan confirmed he was killed by H5N1 virus.

Bird flu, also called avian influenza, is a viral infection that can infect not only birds but also humans and other animals.

H5N1 is the most common form of bird flu, and is deadly to birds and can easily affect humans and other animals that come in contact with a carrier.

According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 was first discovered in humans in 1997 and has killed nearly 60 percent of those infected.

KATHMANDU, March 19: High alertness is to be adopted in the aftermath of the detection of bird flu (H5N1 virus) in some of poultry farms in Kathmandu.

A municipal-level meeting held to identify measures so that the situation could be handled effectively decided this, according to Municipal Livestock Health Division chief Dr Jay Prakash Raya Yadav.

Observation of symptoms of poultries at every farms inside a radius of three kilometers from Phutung, the affected area in Tarakeshwor-7, will be made, public awareness programs will be launched and a ban on the import of chicken, eggs, feeds and other poultry products will be imposed for certain days.

Likewise, local health workers and health volunteers will be mobilized into two groups to launch the public awareness program. Earlier, 28,000 poultries at the Sagar Poultry Farm owned by Shyam Sundar Basnet and 8,000 at Akash Poultry Farm of Shyam Kumar Basnet were destroyed as preventive measures, following the detection of virus. Farmers were urged to give attention to biological safety measures. Other nearby farms have also reported the virus, he said. RSS

The two reported women victim died of symptoms like common cold and fever, at the Teaching Hospital of College of Medical Sciences in Bharatpur.

Suspecting that Bird Flu virus might be the cause, the hospital has informed the District Public Health Office (DPHO), though the hospital did not take any test samples to ascertain its suspicion.

Meanwhile another similar patient is being treated for avian influenza virus (H5N1) in the hospital’s ICU. The victim, who is also a woman is being administered Tamiflu, a antiviral used in treating Bird Flu.

Test samples from this patient have been sent to the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu for the confirmation of suspected virus.

He denied accepting that the patient, dead and alive, were affected with the Bird Flu virus just because drugs used to cure Bird Flu were used on them. He said that nothing can be said on the case unless medical test report arrived from the laboratary. The results are expected to come within a week.

So far no transmission of bird-to-human bird flu has been reported so far in Nepal.

KATHMANDU: Director General of Veterinary Services Department Nar Bahadur Rajwar has shown green flag for consuming chicken without the fear of being infected by Bird Flu virus.

Speaking at the Reporters Club Nepal on Sunday, Rajwar said that the Bird Flu virus was under control as all poultries in areas surrounding the capital were scanned for the infection and purged of the virus.

While munching some of the roast chicken at the program organized by the poultry farmers, entrepreneurs and distributors, he said that the chicken supplied to the market was marketed from poultries that have not been affected by the virus.

He appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders in controlling the virus and said that areas that are presently restricted from poultry farming will be made open soon for continuing the farming.

Program director at the Veterinary Services Directorate Dr Bijay Kant Jha on the occasion explained that culling chickens in the affected area was the only option to curb and contain the spreading of the virus.

He said that none of the Nepalese have been known of being affected by the virus while stating that 365 humans across the world have been known of being affected by the virus on the occasion.

According to Chief District Officer (CDO), Himnath Dawadi, as many as 10 rapid response teams were deployed under the leadership of Livestock Disease Control Division since this morning.

The officials of the Department in coordination with local administration had made different teams and are deployed in different VDCs and municipalities in the district, said Khagendra Raj Bhatta, Chief of the District Livestock Service Office.

15 August, KATHMANDU: The government on Wednesday announced Bhaktapur, a bird flu-hit zone, after many efforts to control disease became unsuccessful.

Besides, Mulpani, Gothatar and Pepsikola areas adjoining to the western belt of the district, settlements on the Manohara river bank, jungle on the border of Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchowk, Nakhel and areas into the Gundu hill have been declared the disease-hit areas.

A meeting of the concerned government bodies held today under the convenorship of Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur and bird flu control technicians’ committee coordinator Himnath Dawadi agreed to implement the government announcement from Thursday.

A rapid response team will take anti bird-flu measures from 8:00 am Thursday as per the provisions in the standard operating procedure for control and containment of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Nepal, it is learnt.

The meeting requested the government to provide appropriate compensation to poultry farmers suffering loss, and to waive their bank loan.

KATHMANDU: Experts have said that the current effort meted out by the government to control the avian flu in the Kathmandu valley was insufficient.

After the weeklong efforts to control bird flu in the valley failed to bring positive result, the government was in dire need of launching a new program to address the menace, said Dr Narayan Prasad Ghimire.

Veterinarian Ghimire said, “The government had intensified inspections and monitoring by the veterinarians in the supply of the chicken, and culling infected chicken in the affected farms. However, it was ineffective.”

Meanwhile, Dr Ghimire refuted the rumor on declaration of emergency in the Valley owing to bird flu from tomorrow was baseless.

BHAKTAPUR: Preparations are on to declare Bhaktapur as bird flu prone area after efforts at controlling the disease became unsuccessful.

The Department of Livestock Services gave out the information in the discussion held between the Department and the poultry farmers at the Department today. According to the Department officials, preparations are being made to cull all chicken in Bhaktapur.

The decision to declare the Bhaktapur district as the bird flu hazard zone was taken in a bid to control the spread of the bird disease as it was suspected in the discussions among the poultry entrepreneurs, the Department officials and the stakeholders that the infection of the disease spread from Bhaktapur itself.

Spokesperson for the Livestock Services Directorate Dr Narayan Prasad Ghimire said the discussion was held among the poultry entrepreneurs, office-bearers of the Department and the stakeholders to adopt new steps to control the disease in the light of the avian influenza still not coming under control in the district.

It is stated that the discussion was fruitful in that the poultry farmers and traders expressed their commitment to extend their full cooperation. Extensive discussions were also held on adopting new ways and a decision about it would be taken tomorrow.

Ghimire said that after the discussion it was concluded that with the district declared as bird flu hazard zone, all the chickens and fowls would be culled and the poultry products destroyed in the district, RSS reports.
Chief District Officer Himnath Dawadi said that preparations were being made to declare the district as bird-free prone zone.

BHAKTAPUR: Chickens at three more poultry farms in Bhaktapur district have been confirmed to be infected with bird flu (H5N1) virus.

Bird flu was found in the chickens at the GJ Poultry Farm at Nakhel -2, at a poultry farm owned by Bimal Dhimasu at Lakulachhe in Bhaktapur Municipality and at the poultry farm owned by Krishna Ram Chhushyabaga at Bageshwari VDC in the district, the District Livestock Service Office, Bhaktapur stated.

The birds at these farms have been culled at the instructions of the Chief District Officer Himnath Dawadi after the veterinary laboratory at Tripureshwar confirmed bird flu infection at these three farms on Tuesday evening.

A team of veterinarians killed 5,220 chickens and destroyed 850 kilogrammes of feed at these farms on Tuesday night.

Chief District Officer Dawadi has instructed the District Livestock Service Office and the police to keep a round-the-clock watch and adopt strong measures so that the infected chickens and eggs are not smuggled out.

Chickens at the Himal Poultry Farm at Sipadol-2 were culled before this on Saturday after the confirmation of bird flu infection.

JHAPA: Bird flu has been confirmed in two poultry farms in Jhapa district. With  this, 13 cases of bird flu have been detected in various parts of Jhapa district in the last two months.

The District Livestock Office, Bhadrapur, said that cases of the bird flu were confirmed in the chicken reared by Raju Bhudhathoki of Prithvinagar-5 and Subhash Khadka of Chandragadhi.

A rapid response team culled 1,270 chicken from the poultry farm of Budhathoki while 151 chickens was destroyed from the poultry farm of Khadka, said Acting Chief of the Office Jagdish Pandey.