Bird flu hits Jessore

Around 7,000 chickens infected with Avian Influenza, commonly known as bird flu, were culled at a government poultry farm in Jessore on Thursday night.

District Livestock Officer Abdur Razzak said they had informed the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Jessore after several birds at the farm died of the flu on Mar 24.

File Photo

Chickens, eggs, feed and medicines had been first tested in the farm laboratory. Some of the dead birds were later sent to the Central Disease Investigation Lab in Dhaka for more elaborate testing, he said.

A report confirming avian influenza was received on Wednesday, prompting the farm authorities to kill 6,868 chickens and destroy 1,882 eggs, 1,300 kg of feed and 19 kg of vitamins on Thursday.

Their total worth was over Tk 3.8 million, Razzak said.

A four-member committee, headed by poultry disease specialist Dr Mehedi Hasan, has been formed to look into the latest outbreak.

Asked why the media had not been alerted about the culling, Razzak said they did not have enough data to make an announcement about the flu.

The first bird flu infection in Bangladesh had been notified on May 22, 2008.