The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bird flu has spread to another district in the country despite massive culling by authorities to control the outbreak bringing the number of affected districts to 47 out of 64, said Livestock officials yesterday.

The new case of the avian influenza, virus of bird flu, was found in Brahmanbaria, they said.

As many as 12,39,166 poultry birds were culled so far following the outbreak of bird flu last year, affecting 219 poultry farms in 47 districts and 13 cities of the country, according to the officials.

Of the total, 21,309 bird flu affected hens, ducks and pigeons were culled at different commercial poultry farms in Shibpur upazila of Narsingdi, Phulpur upazila in Mymensingh and Savar upazila of Dhaka yesterday, they said.

The total number of poultry farms affected by the avian influenza, H5N1, since the announcement of its outbreak in March last year also included 117 commercial farms and 42 homestead backyards. However, the spread of bird flu had slowed in the previously affected areas in the recent weeks, they added.

Bird flu had caused losses of about Tk 4,500 crore ($650 million) to the poultry sector, which accounts for 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product, according to the Bangladesh Poultry Association.

Around five million of the country's more than 14 core people are directly or indirectly involved in poultry farming, of whom officials estimate more than 15 lakh have now become jobless.

No human bird flu cases have been reported in the country, a densely populated nation, where poultry is commonly kept by households.

Experts feared the H5N1 strain could mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic, especially in countries like Bangladesh where people live in close proximity to backyard poultry.

Eating well-cooked meat is safe but experts have warned about handling H5N1-tainted birds or meat without protection. Humans usually contract the virus only after close contact with infected birds.

Avian flu was first identified in Italy around a century ago. It was not thought to be transmittable to humans until 1997, when the first human case was seen in Hong Kong, also involving H5N1.

In the latest outbreak, around 60 people in Asia have died, amounting to roughly half the known number of infections, which is a very high fatality rate. The virus has killed more than 230 people across the world since 2003.