India confirmed an avian influenza outbreak at a small poultry farm in its northeastern state of Manipur on 25 July 2007, the country's first since authorities declared the disease eradicated in August 2006.
The outbreak centered on Chingmeirong village, where 132 of 144 chickens died over six days beginning 7 July. Laboratory tests confirmed highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza; additional analysis was under way to determine whether the strain was H5N1.
Animal husbandry officials ordered the culling of 150,000 birds across 128 farms within a five-kilometer radius of Chingmeirong. Health teams were simultaneously screening some 450,000 residents within a 10-kilometer zone, and 40 medical units were surveying 80,000 households over a 10-day period. Twenty-one people with direct exposure to the infected flock received the antiviral Oseltamivir; none had shown symptoms as of the report.
Officials said the outbreak appeared limited to a single unit but were investigating a possible cross-border origin, given that neighboring Myanmar had reported two H5N1 outbreaks in its poultry this year. Residents in Imphal, the state capital, had already begun avoiding chicken and eggs.
The World Health Organisation had recorded 319 human bird flu cases globally, with 192 deaths. Scientists have warned the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, a concern of particular weight in densely populated countries like India.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in July 2007, in its own words.