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UWAHATI, India - Indian authorities have completed the slaughter of more than 330,000 poultry in the country's remote northeast after an outbreak of the deadly avian influenza, officials said on Friday.
The Indian government reported the outbreak late last month in the far-flung state of Manipur.
"The culling operation has ended after 331,606 chickens, ducks and pigeons were killed and buried. Now we're engaged in a mopping-up drive, cleaning the area and looking for any birds left out," K. Rashbehari, a senior veterinary official, told AFP by telephone from state capital Imphal.
Officials said there were no signs of any humans contracting the virus.
The cull began last week in a five-kilometre (three mile) radius of a farm where the outbreak occurred at Chenngmeirong, near Manipur state Imphal. Some 130 chickens died at the farm.
Thirty-four Rapid Response Teams led by veterinarians were involved in the cull after laboratory tests confirmed the birds were carrying the highly pathogenic H5NI strain.
"There have been no fresh reports of bird flu reported from Manipur. We're keeping the state under strict surveillance," K. Gopal, of the Animal Disease Control programme in Manipur, said.
Health officials said there were no reports of humans contracting the virus but a massive surveillance campaign was under way, with more than 200,000 people checked so far.
"A few people were kept under watch for the last couple of days at a hospital with complaints of fever and respiratory infections. Tests were negative for bird flu," health official S. Singh said.
The adjoining states of Mizoram and Tripura have banned poultry imports poultry as a precaution.
"Some 300 chickens died at a government-run farm in Tripura earlier this week. Although we don't suspect bird flu, we've sent samples for laboratory tests," a Tripura government official said.
Manipur borders Myanmar which announced on Wednesday its second outbreak of bird flu in less than a month.
Indian officials said authorities were investigating whether the infection had come from outside Manipur.
India had declared itself free of bird flu last August after a February 2006 outbreak that led to a mass cull.
- AFP /ls
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