Agartala, April 7: The Tripura government today confirmed the outbreak of bird flu, the deadly H5N1 strain, in two villages of Kamalpur subdivision in Dhalai district, bordering Bangladesh.

Experts and officials of the animal resource development department had dismissed the outbreak as the familiar Ranikhet disease after the death of scores of chicken and ducks and even crows were reported from the district during the past 10 days.

Thirteen teams have been readied with appropriate kits for a full-scale culling operation from 10 tomorrow morning, while six more teams will rush to Kamalpur from Agartala amid reports that panic-stricken poultry farmers have hidden affected poultry in the jungles.

“We are leaving nothing to chance as not only the two affected villages — Malaya and Mohanpur — but entire Kamalpur has been put on alert to make sure that the disease does not spread beyond the subdivision,” said E.U. Venkateshwaralu, commissioner of the animal resource department.

Unnerved by the growing deaths all through the last week of March, the director of the department, Dr Asim Roy-Barman, and Venkateswaralu had sent Bidhan Das, a specialist, to the Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory on April 3 with blood samples of the dead chickens.

“Das informed us this morning that the tests have confirmed bird flu and we are preparing for culling operations tomorrow,” said Aghore Debbarma, minister for animal resource development, while briefing journalists at the state secretariat.

He said in the last week of March, though the death of a few hundred chickens had been reported from Malaya and Mohanpur villages in Kamalpur, no evidence of bird flu was found locally.

Since the dead birds included crows and ducks, blood samples were sent to Pune on April 1, but the tests were inconclusive. The minister said the disease may have spread from the neighbouring bordering villages in Maulvi Bazar district of Bangladesh.

“In Bangladesh, altogether 19 districts were affected by bird flu and it would not be incorrect to say that the virus may have travelled to Kamalpur from Maulvi Bazar, which is close to the border town.”