Bird flu strikes Bangladesh again

Despite the numerous efforts to check the spread of bird flu, it has struck another district in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a densely populated nation with more than 140 million people and millions of backyard poultry and thousands of chicken farms. Bringing the number of affected districts to 41 out of 64, bird flu has permeated a large part of the country. After a report of chickens dieing from the avian influenza virus in western Meherpur, health workers tested 1100 chickens to confirm the spread of the virus. The H5N1 virus was first detected in Bangladesh in March last year. After this, the situation was quickly brought under control through aggressive measures, including culling. But it is said to have reappeared few months ago because of lax follow-up monitoring. So far no human infections have been reported in the region. To check the spread of the virus, the Bangladesh government has raised compensation for poultry farmers to encourage them to report and kill sick birds as part of efforts to stamp out the outbreak. Nearly 600,000 birds have been culled across the country against the virus since March 2007, but it continues to spread and now covers nearly two-thirds of the country. Authorities blame lack of awareness among poultry breeders and non-compliance with warnings by the health ministry as main reasons for the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization fears that the H5N1 strain, which has already killed more than 220 people worldwide since 2003, could mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people. Back home, the bird flu situation in West Bengal appears to be under control. Culling of poultry in bird flu affected West Bengal was completed on Wednesday as no further samples tested positive for the dreaded virus.