The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

More than 200,000 chickens were culled at different poultry farms across the country during over the last two weeks, said an official of the Livestock Ministry yesterday.

Avian influenza has spread to 47 out 64 districts in the country and forced the killing of more than 1.5 million birds since March of last year. Nearly two million eggs also destroyed.

Bird flu has caused losses of about 45 billion taka to the poultry sector, which accounts for 1.6 per cent of the domestic product, according to the industry officials. About 60 per cent of the country's 150,000 poultry farms have been closed down rendering over 1.5 million people jobless.

Chicken prices in Dhaka city have jumped up by nearly 75 per cent in the past week, selling at Tk 140 per kg, while the price of eggs has risen by over 10 per cent.

"We are facing a quick upward trend in the chicken and egg prices, when prices of rice, flour, edible oil continue to rise alarmingly," said a government employee.

Around five million of the country's more than 140 million people are directly or indirectly involved in poultry farming.

No human bird flu has been reported in the country where households commonly keep poultry.

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

The virus has killed 236 people worldwide since 2003.