Bird flu Rapidly spreads in Bangladesh, as more fowls culled
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bird flu Rapidly spreads in Bangladesh, as more fowls culled*
12 Jun 2007 12:43:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
DHAKA, June 12 (Reuters) - Bird flu has rapidly spread to another
district in Bangladesh, forcing authorities to cull 5,000 more chickens,
officials said on Tuesday.
The infected chickens were buried after the H5N1 strain of bird flu was
detected at a farm in Rangpur district, 450 km (280 miles) northwest of
the capital, Dhaka.
With the latest cull, some 165,000 chickens have now been slaughtered
and nearly 1.6 million eggs destroyed on 63 farms in 13 districts since
the virus was first detected near Dhaka in March.
There have been no reported cases of human infection.
More than 100,000 farms have been inspected and some 125 million
chickens vaccinated since the outbreak emerged, a fisheries and
livestock ministry statement said.
Bangladesh has over 125,000 poultry firms producing 250 million broilers
and six billion eggs annually.
About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated
with poultry farming.