Maha: After Thane, bird flu now detected at poultry farm in neighbouring Palghar

Mumbai: Days after avian influenza was reported in Maharashtra’s Thane, this infection has now been detected among birds at a poultry farm in the Vasai-Virar region of its neighboring Palghar district, an official said on Saturday.

Palghar’s district veterinary officer Dr. Prashant Kamble said that some birds at the poultry farm died, after which their samples were sent for testing.

”The test results confirmed that the birds were infected with the H5N1 virus. The reports were received on Friday night,” he said, adding that the situation is not serious.

Kamble did not specify the number of birds that died at the poultry farm. Earlier this week, bird flu cases were detected in Thane district after around 100 birds died at a poultry farm in Vehloli village in Shahapur tehsil. Their samples were sent to a Pune-based laboratory for tests and the results confirmed that they died due to H5N1 avian influenza.

The Thane district administration had issued a notification for the culling of birds in the poultry farms within a one-km radius of the affected farm and more than 25,000 poultry birds have been culled in Shahapur, an official said.