A rapid response team deployed from the Department of Livestock Services slaughtered over 2,985 layer chickens in Bhaktapur district.

The department had deployed the team that comprised vets and officials following the confirmation of the H5N1 virus, which is also called bird flu virus or avian influenza, in the chickens of a poultry farm belonging to Sanjiv Budhathoki of Suryabinayak. Samples of dead chickens were examined in the Central Veterinary Laboratory, which confirmed the presence of the deadly virus in the chickens.

According to Dr Samjhana Kumari Shakya, deputy director general at the department, all the culled chickens were layer chickens, meaning chicken raised for commercial purposes. Shakya informed that the rapid response team completed the culling operation on Wednesday evening.

The team also destroyed 2,100 eggs and 150 kg of feed stored in the farm.

Meanwhile, another team of vets have been deployed to destroy bird flu infected chickens in a poultry farm in Tokha municipality of Kathmandu district on Thursday.

Dr Shakya said that she can give information of the H5N1 infected poultry farm only after the rapid response team has completed its task.

Earlier, the department culled over 80,000 chickens of various breeds in Tarakeshwor and Tokha municipalities in Kathmandu, Kaski, Makwanpur, Lalitpur, Morang and Sunsari district, following the confirmation of the contagious virus.

The department said that it has deployed staffers to carry out strict surveillance to prevent transfer of chickens from virus-hit areas to prevent further outbreak.

Veterinarians say the H5N1 virus may pick up in the winter season, but in Nepal the contagious disease have been seen almost in all seasons. Dr Gauriman Shrestha, senior veterinarian at Central Referral Veterinary Hospital, said that the H5N1 virus keeps changing its form and can be seen active in any season.

In 2013, thousands of chickens were killed in various districts across the country following the outbreak of the deadly virus.