Kerala bird flu: TN steps up monitoring, precautionary measures along borders

Chennai: Following an outbreak of bird flu in neighbouring Kerala, the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday stepped up surveillance on the inter-State borders and announced a contingency plan for the management of possible human cases.

Earlier, the outbreak in Kerala had been reported from some parts of Kottayam and Alappuzha districts there, prompting authorities to order culling of ducks, hens and other domestic birds in and around a one km radius of the affected areas.

”As the Avian influenza spreads rapidly, there could be a likelihood of the humans getting affected. So, as a precaution, the directorate general of health services has evolved a contingency plan for the management of human cases,” Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said monitoring has been stepped up at about 26 check posts in the border districts of Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Theni, Tiruppur, Coimbatore and the Nilgiris.

Joint teams of Animal Husbandry and Health Department stationed at the check posts would disinfect all vehicles entering Tamil Nadu and would ensure the bird flu doesn’t enter the State, he said.

Meanwhile, following the confirmation of an outbreak, vehicles carrying poultry from Kerala were not allowed to enter Tamil Nadu at the border check-posts from Tuesday.