February 19, 2009
West Bengal reports fresh bird flu outbreak
A fresh outbreak of bird flu was reported in South Dinajpur district, in West Bengal state, prompting the authorities to start culling operations, an official said on Wednesday (Feb 19).
Animal Resource Development (ARD) minister Anisur Rehman said veterinary workers have started culling operations in the bird flu-hit Harirampur block, and around 32,000 poultry will be culled, but the figure may increase or decrease during field operations.
Rehman is expecting to end culling operations by Friday (Feb 20) evening.
The samples of dead birds from Harirampur sent to the High Security Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Bhopal last week contained H5N1 strain of the bird flu.
The development comes 17 days after the flu struck Cooch Behar district of the state.
