Chennai: Tamilnadu has stepped up surveillance and formed guidelines following the outbreak of bird flu in neighbouring Kerala, where around 1,700 ducks have died due to the infection.

States like Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir have started collecting samples from migratory species after Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh too reported cases of the avian influenza.

In Kerala, culling of chickens and ducks has begun to contain this H5N8 strain of bird flu, while in Madhya Pradesh, officials said that 155 dead crows in Indore have been found infected with the H5N8 strain.

However, no cases have been reported yet from Maharashtra, which shares borders with Madhya Pradesh.

Officials in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday surveyed the area around the Pong Dam Lake sanctuary in the state’s Kangra district to check the spread of the flu among the domestic poultry birds, a day after samples of dead migratory birds there tested positive for H5N8.

Till now, 2,700 migratory birds, mostly bar-headed geese, have been found dead in the lake area and samples have been sent for testing, state animal husbandry officials said.

The operation to cull the birds in and around a one-km radius of the affected areas in Alappuzha and Kottayam in Kerala was launched a day after results of samples tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal confirmed the outbreak of the bird flu in the two districts.

Rapid response teams, set up by the administration, began culling ducks, hens and other domestic birds as per guidelines, officials said.

Culling of birds in four panchayats of Nedumudi, Thakazhy, Pallippad and Karuvatta in Kuttanad region, where the outbreak has been reported, is expected to be completed by Wednesday evening, Alappuzha district authorities said.

In Karuvatta panchayat alone, around 12,000 birds will be culled, an official said.

In the affected areas of Neendoor panchayat in Kottayam district, the rapid response teams have culled some 3,000 birds so far, authorities said. On a farm in Neendoor, around 1,700 ducks had died due to the viral infection.

Officials have said around 40,000 domestic birds, including 34,000 in the Kuttanad region alone, will be culled to check the spread of the H5N8 virus.

Though the situation has been brought under control, authorities have sounded a high alert in the districts, considering the potential of the virus to infect humans.

The Alappuzha district collector has banned the use and trade of meat, eggs and waste of domestic birds, including ducks and chicken, in Kuttanad and Karthikappalli Taluks, officials said.