The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Livestock officials yesterday culled more 95,000 fowls at a poultry farm in the city after detection of avian influenza, virus of bird flu. Another 60,000 birds are underway to cull, said an official of the Livestock Department.

The dangerous H5N1 strain of the virus was found in chickens at a farm in a suburb of Dhaka, said Mohammad Salauddin Ahmed, Director of Administration of the Directorate of Livestock.

More than 100 health workers were ordered to kill the 150,000 chickens at the Omega Poultry Farm in the city, he said.

The culling of the fowls - infected or feared to be infected - at Omega Poultry Farm in North Badda started Saturday evening after livestock officials had detected the strain of fatal bird flu virus H5N1 among the birds.

"Two more pits are being dug at the site for burying the culled birds, chicken feeds and waste," said Saidur Rahman.

Ataur Rahman Nayan, a staff of Omega, said, "The firm authorities had informed the government office of the incidence of disease Saturday. There are some 1.5 lakh fowls in the farms."

He said that he was not aware of how the virus infected the fowls, despite all precautions taken by the farm to keep the disease at bay.

Meanwhile, Sunil Chandra Ghosh, Director General of the Livestock Department, said, "The authorities will take necessary steps to stop the spread of the disease from that farm. All chicken feed and waste generated at the farm have been also buried for the purpose."

Alees Ahmed Khan, owner of the farm, said that he lost about Tk 12 crore so far to the incidence of the disease.

"The Government is paying only Tk 60 for every culled fowl, which does not compensate for the huge losses at all," he said.

Bird flu has already spread to 42 districts out of 64 in the country since it was first detected in March last year. More than 600,000 birds have been slaughtered so far across the country. No cases of human infection have been reported, according to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.

The Government recently tightened controls along its porous border with India, with authorities ordering officials to block all imports of poultry and eggs from that country.

Any widespread outbreak could be disastrous for Bangladesh because of its dense population and poultry and poorly equipped public health care system, said experts.

There are many poultry farms in overcrowded neighbourhoods across the country. Bangladesh's growing poultry industry is made up of about 150,000 farms and has an annual turnover of about $750 million (about Tk 525 crore).