The spotting of five dead crows near the District Collector’s office premises in Visakhapatnam on Monday has created panic as word spread that the crows had died all of a sudden. With bird flu reported in some States, consumers of chicken and eggs are worried that poultries may be infected sooner than later.
The dead crows were found in a dry drain behind the main building of the Collector’s Office on Monday afternoon. The crows died in quick succession, according to sources. On getting information, Joint Director of Animal Husbandry D. Ramakrishna, Dr. S. Nagamani and a team from the department went to the spot and collected samples.
“A post-mortem of the crows has revealed that they were infected by pasteurella bacteria. There are no symptoms of bird flu like respiratory tract and lung infection that are usually seen in avian influenza. We have reared the culture and the bacteria will grow after 48 hours. The cause of their death will be known after that,” Dr. Ramakrishna told The Hindu on Tuesday.
When his attention was drawn to the reporting of the death of a few crows at NAD junction, DRM's Office compound and Zilla Parishad premises during the last few days, Dr. Ramakrishna said that preliminary investigations have not revealed bird flu in any of the dead crows. The tests were being done at the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) Lab at the Government Veterinary Hospital in the city.
“In all, five dead crows were found at the spot and two of them are suspected to have died at least two days before the others. There is no immediate cause of worry. We have formed 43 teams for surveillance all over the district. The poultry farmers have been advised to disinfect their farms to check the possible spread of the virus through wild birds in view of the detection of bird flu in some States,” he added.
