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Bangladesh on high alert as bird flu spreads
Bird flu as spread to three more districts of Bangladesh, the country's livestock department reported on Sunday.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:35 February 3, 2008
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Bird flu has spread in Bangladesh with more than half of the countrty's districts battling the deadly H5N1 virus.
Dhaka: Bird flu has spread to three more districts of Bangladesh, the country's livestock department reported on Sunday.
The latest outbreaks were reported in southwestern Gopalganj, northeastern Sylhet and northern Mymensingh district, officials said.
The port city of Chittagong was put on high alert after some dead crows tested positive for the H5N1 virus, local officials said.
The Bangaladesh government was pursuing measures to contain the spread of the disease, but ignorance among millions of farmers across the impoverished country hampers efforts.
"More than 200,000 volunteers are visiting rural households and educating people to report dead or sick birds, safe disposal of poultry waste and other safe health practices," said Mushtaque Ahmed, senior scientific officer at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.
No human infection has been reported in Bangladesh, though some 4 million people are involved in poultry farming across the country.
Meanwhile inTurkey's authorities have begun culling poultry in the northern part of the country due to suspicions of bird flu with one district being put under quarantine,broadcaster NTV said on Sunday.
The culling was sparked by residents in the Samsun province in the northern Black Sea region whio had reported poultry dying for no apparent reason.
Results have yet to be confirmed from the blood samples taken from the dead chickens.
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