Bird flu reported in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, July 23 (IANS) Bird flu has been reported from a poultry farm at Koorachundu in Kerala's Kozhikode district, official sources said on Friday.Around 300 poultry birds at the farm was reported to have died on Tuesday.Following this, local authorities decided to send the samples for further testing and when the reports arrived from a laboratory, it was found out that the cause was bird flu.It was decided to immediately close down all poultry farms in a 10 sq km radius of the said locality, from which bird flu was reported.Meanwhile the authorities are now waiting for the test results from the NIHSAD, Bhopal.Officials, however, have said there need be no reason for any panic, as all the required precautionary steps to be taken have commenced and things are well under control.
--IANS sg/vd