Bird flu confirmed in dead crows found in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur and Agar Malwa districts

Bhopal: After Indore, bird flu has been confirmed as the cause of mass death of crows in Mandsaur and Agar Malwa districts of Madhya Pradesh, an official said on Tuesday. Presence of H5N8 virus (a variant of avian influenza or bird flu) was found in the carcasses of crows in Mandsaur and Agar Malwa districts, he said, citing test results of samples sent for laboratory analysis. A total of 155 dead crows in Indore have been found with the H5N8 virus since the pathogen was first detected in the commercial city a week back. Since 23 December, 2020, about 400 avian deaths were reported across 10 districts of Madhya Pradesh, said the Public Relations Department official. The bird flu has been confirmed in the dead crows in Indore, Mandsaur and Agar Malwa districts, he said. Apart from these three districts, the samples of dead avians were collected from Ujjain, Sehore, Dewas, Guna, Shajapur, Khargone and Neemuch districts and sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal for testing, the official said. However, the state government says eating well cooked chicken and egg is not a threat to human health. The bird flu virus has not been found in roosters yet. Earlier in the day, Veterinary Department Deputy Director Pramod Sharma said that 155 crows were detected with H5N8 virus in the Residency area of Indore in the last eight days. He said the presence of bird flu was first detected in Indore on 29 December when about 50 crows were found dead in Daly College campus in the Residency area. On Monday, the government sounded a bird flu alert across Madhya Pradesh. An official had said that besides Indore, 100 crows were found dead in Mandsaur, 112 in Agar Malwa, 13 in Khargone and nine in Sehore district.