BANGLADESH: Bird flu "spreading fast", says expert
Pastor Dale Morgan
BANGLADESH: Bird flu "spreading fast", says expert*
18 Jan 2008 11:12:02 GMT
Source: IRIN
DHAKA, 18 January 2008 (IRIN) - A fresh outbreak of bird flu this week
in Bangladesh has renewed fears of a possible spread: Seventy-two farms
in 23 of Bangladesh's 64 districts have reportedly been infected with
the deadly virus so far.
"The situation is really bad. It is getting out of control. People are
handling, selling and eating avian influenza infected chicken," said
Habibibur Rahman of the Bangladesh Agricultural University.
"The disease is spreading fast in terms of numbers and areas. Two new
divisions, Barisal and Sylhet, out of the country's six divisions, have
been freshly affected this week," he said.
But Rahman, a national expert on bird flu, insists that the pandemic can
be controlled provided backyard farmers improve their health and hygiene
behaviour - including the disposal of poultry faeces.
"Dead birds are culled and buried. But their faeces, loaded with the
H5N1 virus, are not disposed of properly. If this continues, the
outbreaks will also continue," the expert warned, noting: "It is the
backyard farms that pose a real danger - more than the commercial ones."
Government efforts
"We are detecting and culling bird flu affected poultry wherever they
are found. We are also compensating the farmers for their losses based
on the number and age of birds culled," said Sunil Ghose,
director-general of the Department of Livestock.
"Our field staff all over the country are working round the clock to
identify sick birds and send samples to six of our field testing
laboratories and two other labs in Dhaka. Imposition of movement
restrictions and establishing security zones around infected farms have
so far worked effectively in restricting the spread of bird flu," Ghose
said.
New areas affected
New areas like the southern and eastern districts of the country have
reported bird flu in commercial and backyard poultry farms, raising
concern amongst government officials, farmers, scientists and the
general public over containing the pandemic.
Over 21,000 fowls were culled in coastal Barguna District on 17 January,
and another 3,000 in Jessore District, southwestern Bangladesh, after
detection of the virus.
Fowls have been culled in Barguna since 16 January, when over 400
chickens at a poultry farm in the village of Dhalua, Sadar sub-district,
reportedly died after detection of the deadly H5N1 virus.
Barguna is one of the districts hit worst by last November's devastating
Cyclone Sidr, which killed more than 3,400 people and rendered millions
homeless.
Local authorities have declared a one-mile no-go zone around the area
and culled 20,157 chickens, 590 ducks, 515 pigeons and a parrot in the area.
On 16 January, in Barisal, another southern district, the authorities
culled over 1,500 birds.
"Almost all our chickens are dead. Government officials are killing only
ducks and pigeons. There is no chicken left alive," said Kutubuddin
Mollah, a poultry seller at Barisal's Kathpatti bazar.
In Rangpur District, northwestern Bangladesh, about 800 poultry birds
died of suspected bird flu at a poultry farm at Robertsonsganj 15-18
January.
In Jessore District, 3,000 birds were culled following detection of the
H5N1 virus among fouls on a poultry farm at Palbari in Jessore District.
Just last week in a commercial poultry farm in Kadirpur village of
Kulaura sub-district of Moulavi Bazar District in the far northeast of
the county, over 1,300 chickens were culled, and a 10km alert zone
placed around the farm.
Bangladesh's largest migratory bird sanctuary, the Hakaluki Haor, is in
this area.
Meanwhile, all 1,650 poultry farms in nine sub-districts of Khulna
District, including Khulna city, are now under observation by health
authorities, with a one-mile security zone declared around all bird flu
affected farms throughout the country.
Additionally, the export and import of fowls, eggs and poultry feed to
and from the affected areas have been officially banned.