January 23, 2008

Vet shortage hampers India's bird flu effort

India's West Bengal state said Wednesday (23 January 2008)it was falling behind in its attempts to halt the spread of bird flu as thousands more poultry deaths were reported from new areas.

About 2,000 more veterinarians and health workers are needed to help kill up to two million birds in the battle against the poultry virus outbreak that began more than a week ago, the state's animal resources minister told AFP.

The state does not have the infrastructure to battle this epidemic and bird flu is spreading to new areas., the minister, Anisur Rahaman, said, adding that thousands of chickens are dropping dead every day

At least 600 teams would have to be deployed to cull two million poultry in a week but right now only 400 teams are engaged in culling. At five people to a team, that leaves the state short at least 2,000 workers.

West Bengal has asked neighboring states to send at least 1,000 veterinary and human doctors, said Rahaman. The state has also urged the federal government to send expert teams and doctors to assess the situation and help the culling teams.

 The latest outbreak, which began in the village of Margram, is the third and worst to hit India since 2006.

Rahaman expressed grave concerns about the possibility of the disease spreading to humans with hundreds of people reporting flu symptoms although tests conducted so far have proved negative.

He also expressed worries that humans could catch bird flu from possibly infected chickens that were allowed to roam free all over the state.