The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

With the rise of temperature, bird flu that battered the growing poultry industry in the country now started to ease off, said an expert of the Livestock Department yesterday.

The situation of bird flu is gradually improving with the rise of temperature, said a technical officer of the Livestock Department.

Some 1,536,542 chickens, ducks and pigeons have been culled so far till Saturday since the epidemic broke out in March last year, said an official of the Bird Flu Control Room.

The disease affected 486 commercial farms and 42 private farms in 47 districts out of 64 districts in the country, said the official.

The government agencies are campaigning through the electronic media and SMS services that there is no danger in eating chickens and eggs if cooked and boiled at 70 degree Celsius.

There is no reason for the people to panic about the virus, as there is no human infection detected in Bangladesh, said the physicians. People earlier panicked at the spread of virus stopped eating chickens and eggs have now begun eating fowl meat and eggs.

The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA) said the deadly virus led to the closure of more than 50 per cent of the farms, turning nearly five million people jobless.

The epidemic had devastated the poultry sector worth about Tk 143 crore, according to the Association.