Bird flu “spreading fast”, says expert

A fresh outbreak of bird flu this week in Bangladesh has renewed fears of a possible spread: Seventy-two farms in 23 of Bangladesh's 64 districts have reportedly been infected with the deadly virus so far.

“The situation is really bad. It is getting out of control. People are handling, selling and eating avian influenza infected chicken,” said Habibibur Rahman of the Bangladesh Agricultural University.

“The disease is spreading fast in terms of numbers and areas. Two new divisions, Barisal and Sylhet, out of the country’s six divisions, have been freshly affected this week," he said.

But Rahman, a national expert on bird flu, insists that the pandemic can be controlled provided backyard farmers improve their health and hygiene behaviour - including the disposal of poultry faeces.

“Dead birds are culled and buried. But their faeces, loaded with the H5N1 virus, are not disposed of properly. If this continues, the outbreaks will also continue,” the expert warned, noting: "It is the backyard farms that pose a real danger - more than the commercial ones."

Government efforts

“We are detecting and culling bird flu affected poultry wherever they are found. We are also compensating the farmers for their losses based on the number and age of birds culled,” said Sunil Ghose, director-general of the Department of Livestock.

“Our field staff all over the country are working round the clock to identify sick birds and send samples to six of our field testing laboratories and two other labs in Dhaka. Imposition of movement restrictions and establishing security zones around infected farms have so far worked effectively in restricting the spread of bird flu," Ghose said.

New areas affected

New areas like the southern and eastern districts of the country have reported bird flu in commercial and backyard poultry farms, raising concern amongst government officials, farmers, scientists and the general public over containing the pandemic.

Over 21,000 fowls were culled in coastal Barguna District on 17 January, and another 3,000 in Jessore District, southwestern Bangladesh, after detection of the virus.

Fowls have been culled in Barguna since 16 January, when over 400 chickens at a poultry farm in the village of Dhalua, Sadar sub-district, reportedly died after detection of the deadly H5N1 virus.

Barguna is one of the districts hit worst by last November’s devastating Cyclone Sidr, which killed more than 3,400 people and rendered millions homeless.

Local authorities have declared a one-mile no-go zone around the area and culled 20,157 chickens, 590 ducks, 515 pigeons and a parrot in the area.

On 16 January, in Barisal, another southern district, the authorities culled over 1,500 birds.

“Almost all our chickens are dead. Government officials are killing only ducks and pigeons. There is no chicken left alive,” said Kutubuddin Mollah, a poultry seller at Barisal’s Kathpatti bazar.

In Rangpur District, northwestern Bangladesh, about 800 poultry birds died of suspected bird flu at a poultry farm at Robertsonsganj 15-18 January.

In Jessore District, 3,000 birds were culled following detection of the H5N1 virus among fouls on a poultry farm at Palbari in Jessore District.

Just last week in a commercial poultry farm in Kadirpur village of Kulaura sub-district of Moulavi Bazar District in the far northeast of the county, over 1,300 chickens were culled, and a 10km alert zone placed around the farm.

Bangladesh's largest migratory bird sanctuary, the Hakaluki Haor, is in this area.

Meanwhile, all 1,650 poultry farms in nine sub-districts of Khulna District, including Khulna city, are now under observation by health authorities, with a one-mile security zone declared around all bird flu affected farms throughout the country.

Additionally, the export and import of fowls, eggs and poultry feed to and from the affected areas have been officially banned.

sa/ds/cb