*Bird flu spreads in Bangladesh, more fowls culled*
10 Jun 2007 11:08:35 GMT
Source: Reuters
DHAKA, June 10 (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to another district in
Bangladesh forcing authorities to cull 3,000 more chickens over the last
two days, officials said on Sunday.
The infected chickens were found at a farm in Dinajpur district 450 km
(280 miles) northwest of the capital Dhaka.
With the latest cull, some 160,000 chickens have now been slaughtered
and 1.5 million eggs destroyed on 62 farms in 12 districts since the
virus was first detected at six farms at Savar 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.
The World Bank last week pledged more than $30 million to a Bangladesh
project to fight bird flu until 2012.
Earlier last month the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) said Bangladesh needed a long-term strategy to control the H5N1
strain of bird flu.