Dakshina Kannada administration initiates steps against swine flu

The Dakshina Kannada district administration in coastal Karnataka has initiated steps in view of the detection of swine flu at a piggery in Kelrai near here.

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner M R Ravikumar informed that people need not panic as it does not spread to human beings or other animals. There is also no harm in consuming pork if it is properly cooked, he said.

A few pigs at the farm run by Prakash at Kelrai of Neermarga village on the outskirts of the city were found to have fever and other symptoms of the infection in the second week of October.

The samples of infected pigs were sent to a laboratory in Bengaluru which confirmed swine flu on October 31, Animal Husbandry Deputy Director Arun Vandse said.

He said 120 of the 200 pigs at the farm had died of the highly contagious disease by the time the results came. The remaining pigs were culled after obtaining permission from the deputy commissioner.

The administration has declared a one-km radius around the disease affected zone, while a 10-km area has been declared as a vigilance zone.