March 17, 2009

Bird flu has resurfaced in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, a month after authorities claimed that the virus was under control.

Culling operations in West Bengal to contain the third outbreak had ended barely a month ago.

The epicentre has been detected as Bora Changa in the same region.

West Bengal officials said they had begun culling about 11,000 poultry after the fourth outbreak was confirmed on Sunday (Mar 15) near Siliguri town.

Dhruba Chakrabarty, state observer, animal husbandry division, said the Bora Changa epicentre was declared again affected and have started operation accordingly, adding that they are hoping it will be completed in the next three to four days.

Samples of blood have been sent to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal.

Earlier in January, bird flu outbreaks were reported in Siliguri and adjacent areas and more than 30,000 birds were culled.

Buying and selling of chicken have been banned within 10 kilometres of the affected area to avoid further spread of the disease.

Hundreds of thousands of birds had been culled in Assam and Meghalaya after bird flu was detected in November.