April 9, 2008

India health workers cull poultry to contain fresh bird flu outbreak

Health workers in a remote Indian state bordering Bangladesh culled several thousand poultry Tuesday to contain a fresh outbreak of bird flu, officials said.

The remote northeastern state of Tripura is the second state after West Bengal in the country's east to report an outbreak of bird flu this year.

Ashish Roy Burman, director of the state's animal resources development department said they have started the mass slaughter as a preventive measure,.

More than 20,000 birds within a radius of five kilometers of the affected area were to be culled in the next three days.

The government has banned the sale and consumption of poultry products, and also prohibited the movement of all vehicles from and to the affected villages.

Authorities fear that infected poultry may have already been transported out of the region.

India reported its first outbreak of bird flu in 2006 in western Maharashtra state, has not reported any human infections.