HYDERABAD: After a brief lull, bird flu fear reared its head again following reports of nearly 10,000 chickens in poultry farms on the city outskirts dying over the past few days. Authorities on Monday began a decontamination drive to contain any outbreak of the dreaded H5N1.

The animal husbandry department has sent samples for testing to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal. It also stopped the transport of eggs, poultry products and bird droppings (used as manure) from the Hayathnagar farm as a precautionary measure.

Officials said that a spate of unusual deaths was reported from a poultry farm owned by B Krishna Reddy at Injapur village, about two km from Thorrur village in Hayathnagar, the place where avian influenza first hit.

"The deaths first started on May 4 with 700 birds and gradually increased to over a 1000 birds a day after three days. On Monday, 1,700 more birds died," B Krishna Reddy, owner of the poultry farm, told TOI.

While the HSADL is awaited, panic has set in the village, especially among the workers employed at the farm.

When contacted, Dr D Venkateswarlu, animal husbandry director, Telangana, said that they are yet to ascertain the cause of the deaths citing delay in official communication from HSADL. "There is no formal communication from them yet but we suspect the reason could be anything," he said.