Bird flu hits Tripura again

Bird flu has resurfaced again in the northeast state of Tripura and the authorities are preparing to cull thousands of chickens. It's the second time that bird flu has hit Tripura. Strategies are being formulated to contain the disease, which has hit Mohanpur, a town 20 km west of Tripura's capital, Agartala. More than 25,000 chickens and ducks have already been slaughtered this month after eight villages were hit by the H5N1 strain. The World Health Organization has described the January bird flu outbreak in West Bengal as the worst ever in India that resulted in the slaughter of more than four million birds. Following the recurrent bird flu attacks, many states all over the country have banned poultry products, pulling down prices sharply and prompting farmers to cut production. Health department officials are also checking humans for any flu-like symptoms. Though no human cases have been reported so far, it is feared that the H5N1 virus might combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and result in a pandemic that could kill millions of people.