The Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases laboratory confirmed on Tuesday that the death of chickens at a state-owned poultry firm in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district was caused by bird flu.

Bokaro deputy commissioner Kuldeep Chowdhury on Wednesday issued a public advisory declaring the one-kilometre radius along the poultry firm as an “infected zone” and 10km area as a “surveillance zone” and prohibited the sale of chicken and ducks in both zones till further orders.

“We are complying with the advisory issued by the central government and the state government and culling of chickens and other bird species in the infected zone having similar symptoms as bird flu has been ordered. So far we have not received any information from our teams which have been scanning all the private poultry firms in the infected and surveillance zones about any occurrence of similar symptoms,” said Chowdhury.

According to Bokaro animal husbandry officer Manoj Kumar, nearly 902 chickens of the state-owned poultry firm at Lohanchal in the Bokaro city area died of suspected bird flu symptoms between February 1 and 20.

The symptoms include inflammation in the neck and head region, coughing, sneezing and water stools. The samples of two chickens were sent to Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL) at Belgachia in Calcutta.

“The RDDL then sent the samples to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) laboratory in Bhopal to further confirm the presence of bird flu. We got the confirmation report of NIHSAD from the state animal husbandry department on Tuesday and immediately started the culling exercise which was completed on Tuesday itself,” said Manoj Kumar.

Samples of chickens and ducks from private firms will also be sent to laboratories in Calcutta and Bhopal. The samples of the people living in the infected zone were also asked to be collected by the medical team on Wednesday. A separate ward was set up in Bokaro Sadar Hospital for the treatment of patients likely to be infected with bird flu.

“We have not prohibited people from eating chicken, but advised them to cook it above 70 degrees centigrade for nearly half an hour to prevent any likely effect of the virus. People have also been advised to immediately inform about cough, fever, muscle pain, sore throat, headache, breathing distress to the nearest government health centre or Sadar Hospital,” added Chowdhury.

People have been asked not to come in contact with sick chickens and immediately inform the animal husbandry unit.

Those having chickens and birds have been asked to inform the administration after noticing the symptoms such as swelling around the eyes, neck and head, discharge from the eyes, bluish colour in the crest and legs, sudden weakness, falling feathers, and loss of appetite.