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Bangladesh: Bird Flu in ANIMALS/POULTRY Nov/16/2007-Feb/6/2008
Isolation camps (plural) not hospital wards or even wings?!
The government also has arranged isolation camps in affected districts for special treatment if any positive human cases are found, the health official said.
Please do not ask me for medical advice, I am not a medical doctor.
Avatar is a painting by Alan Pollack, titled, "Plague". I'm sure it was an accident that the plague girl happened to look almost like my twin.
Thank you,
Shannon Bennett
Massive H5N1 Crow Deaths in Bangladesh Raise Concerns Recombinomics Commentary 15:21
January 28, 2008
In the last four days, over 1,000 crows have dropped dead in Barisal, Patuakhali and Dinajpur districts, with laboratory tests confirming they were infected with the H5N1 virus.
The above comments expand the number of dead crows in Bangladesh with confirmed H5N1. The above areas in the northern and southern areas of Bangladesh (see satellite map here and here). The large numbers of wild birds infected with H5N1 complicate control efforts and increase the likelihood that the dead crows and other wild birds in West Bengal (including pigeons, hawks, owls, falcons, and migratory birds including teals) are also H5N1 positive. West Bengal?s failure to report / confirm H5N1 in these wild bird birds increases concerns regarding the reliability and timeliness of reports coming out of West Bengal. Media reports have voiced similar concerns over reports coming out of Bangladesh.
As seen in the maps, the number of reported cases in both countries in recent days has been large, and new cases are being reported daily, in spite of extensive culling. Media reports indicate over 2 million birds have been culled in West Bengal, but H5N1 in wild birds will likely spread H5N1 throughout the area and included locations that are seal off from West Bengal and / or Bangladesh.
The concerns over H5N1 in wild and domestic birds extend to humans, which have had extensive exposures to H5N1. H5N1 has been confirmed in suburban Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Calcutta in West Bengal. Moreover, goats in the multiple regions reporting high levels of H5N1 in birds have pneumonia, one of the common complications of H5N1 infection.
The continuing daily reports of H5N1 in new areas and new species in West Bengal and Bangladesh continue to increase pandemic concerns.
.
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
Spread up the predator food chain really is concerning.
.
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
An incident of outbreak of bird flu virus has been reported from a poultry farm at Ananda Bazar area of Netrakona district town here on Saturday night. Local Official sources here said, after receiving a confirmation report of outbreaking bird flu virus in the farm from the District Livestock Department, number of four separate culling teams under the supervision of Joint Forces and District Administration and livestock department conducted operation simultaneously in around the one kilometre area of the poultry farm on Saturday night and culled some 1539 chickens, 136 ducks and 94 pigeons from different poultry farms and residential houses.
Earlier, district livestock department sent two dead chickens of the bird flue virus affected poultry farm to the Central Livestock Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Dhaka where the dead chickens of the farm were tested positive for the disease, the sources said.
Meanwhile, all the concerned officials including the officials of Livestock Department were put on alert and advised for taking all necessary preventive measures to check spreading of bird flu virous by the higher authority, the official sources added.
DHAKA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh detected new bird flu cases Wednesday in the country's southwestern Khulna city, about 140 km southwest of capital Dhaka, putting the number of affected districts to 30 out of all 64 districts.
Khulna livestock department office confirmed the bird flu cases after receiving laboratory test report from Dhaka Wednesday morning, private news agency UNB reported.
Fourteen chickens died in the house of a city dweller last week. District livestock officials collected samples of some dead chickens from the house and sent them to Dhaka for laboratory test.
After receiving the test report, the livestock office immediately sprayed disinfectant in and around two-km areas of the house as early precautionary measures. District livestock officer M Obaidur Rahman said that they are taking different precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of bird flu in the district. According to the Health Ministry, till Jan. 27, bird flu has affected some 326,844 chickens in 29 districts. With fresh detection report, the number of affected districts rose to 30.
<!-- END HEADLINE --><!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->37 minutes ago
Bangladesh on Thursday rejected suggestions it was the source of the massive bid flu outbreak in the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal, saying India had the deadly disease first.
The Bangladeshi foreign ministry said India officially reported a bird flu outbreak in 2006 and that this was now the fourth such occurrence.
"The cases in Bangladesh on the other hand are sporadic in nature and, due to intensive surveillance, the situation has remained under control," said the statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency.
The ministry said the high price of poultry here made it impossible in any case for Bangladeshi birds to be carried and sold across the border.
Officials in West Bengal earlier this week pointed the finger at Bangladesh, saying they believed avian flu had spread from over the border.
Bangladesh and India share a 4,095-kilometre (2,539-mile) border which is largely unfenced.
No human cases have been reported from either nation, but more than one million people were under observation in West Bengal, health officials said, adding that all tests so far had been negative for the virus.
The disease has been detected in 30 of Bangladesh's 64 districts since the country's first bird flu outbreak 10 months ago, with a science adviser to the government calling the spread of the virus "alarming."
<TABLE class=ap-story-table style="veritcal-align: :top" border=0><TBODY><TR class=ap-story-tr><TD class=ap-story-td>Feb 1, 6:33 AM EST
Bangladesh kills more than 27,000 chickens and ducks after bird flu outbreak
</TD></TR><TR><TD>DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- Livestock officials slaughtered more than 27,000 chickens and ducks in northern Bangladesh after bird flu was confirmed at a poultry farm near the border with India, a report said Friday.
Officials in India's West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh, have been struggling to contain that country's worst-ever outbreak of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.
Several hundred chickens died at the poultry farm in Dinajpur district, 270 kilometers (170 miles) north of Dhaka, and laboratory tests confirmed that the H5N1 virus was responsible, the United News of Bangladesh news agency reported.
Local livestock official Sydur Rahman said more than 27,000 chickens and ducks were killed and more than 60,000 eggs were destroyed on Thursday and Friday in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus, the agency said.
Local officials were not immediately available for comment Friday.
On Thursday, the government warned the Department of Livestock that more precautions were needed to prevent the disease from spreading.
Experts say any widespread outbreak could be disastrous for Bangladesh because of its dense population and poorly equipped public health care system.
Bird flu has been confirmed in at least 30 of Bangladesh's 64 districts and has struck more than 97 farms since it was first detected in February last year. More than 350,000 birds have been slaughtered, according to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
No cases of human infection have been reported.
Bangladesh recently tightened controls along its porous border with India, with authorities ordering officials to block all imports of poultry and eggs from that country.
In India, more than 129,000 poultry have died from bird flu in West Bengal state in recent weeks and nearly 2.5 million at-risk birds have been slaughtered, according to Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahaman. Officials fear the disease could reach crowded Calcutta and its 14 million people.
The virus remains hard for people to catch, but experts worry it could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, igniting a flu pandemic. Most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds. H5N1 has killed at least 224 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
By Anastasia Tomazhenkova: Bangladesh officials confirmed bird flu at a poultry farm near the border with India. More than 27,000 chickens and ducks were slaughtered. </STRONG />
Officials in India's West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh, have been struggling to contain that country's worst-ever outbreak of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 2 -->The global spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 in birds is considered a significant pandemic threat. While other H5N1 strains are known, they are significantly different from a current, highly pathogenic H5N1 strain on a genetic level, making the global spread of this new strain unprecedented. The H5N1 strain is a Fast-mutating, highly pathogenic aviab influenza virus (HPAI) found in multiple bird species. It is both epizootic (an epidemic in non-humans) and panzootic (a disease affecting animals of many species especially over a wide area).
</STRONG /><!-- TEXT BLOCK 3 -->Several hundred chickens died at the poultry farm in Dinajpur district, 270 kilometers north of Dhaka, and laboratory tests confirmed that the H5N1 virus was responsible. </STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 4 -->More than 27,000 chickens and ducks were killed and more than 60,000 eggs were destroyed on Thursday and Friday in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus, the agency said. On Thursday, the government warned the Department of Livestock that more precautions were needed to prevent the disease from spreading. </STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 6 -->Any widespread outbreak can be disastrous for Bangladesh because of its dense population and poorly equipped public health care system. </STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 7 -->Bird flu has been confirmed in at least 30 of Bangladesh's 64 districts and has struck more than 97 farms since it was first detected in February last year. More than 350,000 birds have been slaughtered. </STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 8 -->No cases of human infection have been reported. </STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 9 -->Bangladesh recently tightened controls along its porous border with India, with authorities ordering officials to block all imports of poultry and eggs from that country. </STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 10 -->In India, more than 129,000 poultry have died from bird flu in West Bengal state in recent weeks and nearly 2.5 million at-risk birds have been slaughtered, according to Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahaman. Officials fear the disease could reach crowded Calcutta and its 14 million people.
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 11 -->Infected birds pass on H5N1 through their saliva, nasal secretions, and faeces. Other birds may pick up the virus through direct contact with these excretions or when they have contact with surfaces contaminated with this material. Because migratory birds are among the carriers of the H5N1 virus it may spread to all parts of the world. Past outbreaks of avian flu have often originated in crowded conditions in southeast and east Asia, where humans, pigs, and poultry live in close quarters. In these conditions a virus is more likely to mutate into a form that more easily infects humans. A few isolated cases of suspected human to human transmission exist, with the latest such case in June 2006 (among members of a family in Sumatra). No pandemic strain of H5N1 has yet been found.</STRONG />
<!-- TEXT BLOCK 12 -->The virus remains hard for people to catch, but experts worry it could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, igniting a flu pandemic. Most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds. H5N1 has killed at least 224 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
doesn't sound like the same stable, slowly evolving virus the WHO is talking about.
"The H5N1 strain is a Fast-mutating, highly pathogenic aviab influenza virus (HPAI) found in multiple bird species. It is both epizootic (an epidemic in non-humans) and panzootic (a disease affecting animals of many species especially over a wide area)."
e_
Last edited by sharon sanders; February 1, 2008, 09:37 AM.
Reason: typo
"Recommendations on how to confront a pandemic in populations must be relentlessly practical; if they are anything less, they shouldn?t be taken seriously."Dr. David S. Fedson,M.D.
...
"The H5N1 strain is a Fast-mutating, highly pathogenic aviab influenza virus (HPAI) found in multiple bird species. It is both epizootic (an epidemic in non-humans) and panzootic (a disease affecting animals of many species especially over a wide area)."
e_
With enaugh luck (...), if the spreads are natural, the H5N1 strain mutations will maybe affect only the above cited non-human vectors, even if it will spread through the whole world.
As of 29 January 2008, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Government of Bangladesh, reported that culling of poultry has taken place in 134 farms, spread over 30 districts. (Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayangonj, Tangail, Jamalpur, Jessore, Noakhali, Gaibandha, Magura, Rajbari, Nilfamari, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Joypurhat, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon, Naogaon, Bogra, Feni, Pabna, Kurigram, Moulvibaza, Barisal, Barguna, Rajshahi, Natore, Patuakhali, Netrokona, Bhola and Kulna). Of these, 97 farms have confirmed H5 virus infection. A total of 337,878 chickens have been culled. No human cases have been reported.
World Health Organization in South-East Asia provides leadership on health matters, articulates evidence-based policy options, provides technical support to countries and monitors health trends. World Health Organization South-East Asia is working with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste to address persisting and emerging epidemiological and demographic challenges.
<TABLE class=RedTableBorder style="HEIGHT: 483px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px" vAlign=top><TD class=articalTitle align=middle>Dhaka on watch as bird flu spreads <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=430 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=dates id=hDate height=27>Published: Saturday, 2 February, 2008, 01:58 AM Doha Time</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px"><TD class=articalBody id=artical1 vAlign=top height=345>DHAKA: In less than a year, bird flu has spread to nearly half of Bangladesh?s 64 districts, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people reliant on the poultry industry and driving up food prices.
Health experts blame official neglect and lack of timely action to contain the bird flu virus, which continues to spread in Bangladesh and the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal.
Battling ignorance among millions of farmers is another worry, the experts say.
?Many villagers still hold their dead chickens with bare hands and throw them away without burying them. That helps spread the disease,? said a health official in Barisal district on the coast.
Abdur Rashid, a surgeon in the flu-hit coastal district Bhola, said authorities had been distributing leaflets about bird flu but many villagers had ignored the warnings.
Some farmers also tried to sell sick chickens because the compensation paid by authorities was often too low.
?They can sell a chicken for 130 to 150 taka ($1.90 to $2.20), while they get around 80 taka in compensation that often takes a long time to get,? a poultry owner said.
Touching or eating sick poultry is the most common way to become infected by the H5N1 bird flu virus that has killed more than 220 people globally since late 2003. So far, no human infections have been reported in Bangladesh, a densely populated nation with millions of backyard poultry and thousands of chicken farms.
The government will give training to more than 28mn volunteers across the country so that they can teach people in the villages how to rear backyard poultry by using risk-free methods, Shawkat Ali, the government?s adviser for health said.
?Now we are facing a critical situation, as bird flu struck at a time when commodity prices from rice, flour to milk powder and edible oil had already nearly doubled,? said Shahedul Alam, a government employee.
Chicken prices in markets in the capital dropped 25% over the past two weeks, selling at 80 taka per kg, while the price of eggs has fallen 20% or more.
?I have stopped buying chickens and instead I get fish. To replace eggs, we have started taking more vegetables,? housewife Ayesha Begum said yesterday at Dhaka?s Kawranbazar market.
For many others bird flu is one more curse on an impoverished nation that struggles with natural disasters such as floods and storms each year.
The government says it is doing all it can to fight the virus.
Yet the virus has spread of nearly 100 poultry firms in 30 districts. More than 350,000 chickens and ducks have been culled since March last year.
It is a major blow to the poultry industry, which is worth nearly $1bn. More than 4mn people are involved in poultry farming and many have no other job to earn a living, industry officials say.
In the past six months, nearly 40% of Bangladesh?s 150,000 poultry farms have closed because of high prices of chicks and feed, and more will be out of business because of falling chicken and egg prices, poultry owners say.
Livestock and health ministry officials say 225,000 volunteers have been deployed to tighten surveillance and alert security forces along the borders with India and Myanmar.
All vehicles carrying poultry would also be sprayed with disinfectant before entering any urban area. Vehicles arriving in Bangladesh from India would also be sprayed, they said.
Late last month, the UN?s Food and Agriculture Organisation said the virus ?appeared to be endemic in the country, and surveillance and control campaigns have so far not succeeded in interrupting virus transmission between provinces?.
Livestock officials said bird flu was still spreading and had resurfaced in the Feni district southeast of Dhaka. The government has ordered culling of all chickens and ducks in 1km radius surrounding all affected farms.
?Sometimes we are neglecting people to save the poultry industry. We have to choose priority. There is no other option but to destroy chickens,? said a virologist, who asked not to be identified. ? Reuters </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Indian state says bird flu under control, Bangladesh reports spread
<!-- END HEADLINE --><!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->by Sailendra Sil 52 minutes ago
An Indian state said it had brought the country's worst ever bird flu outbreak under control on Saturday, just as neighbouring Bangladesh reported the virus was spreading.
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in 13 of 19 districts in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal since the outbreak began in mid-January.
The state's Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahaman told AFP that health workers expected to complete the culling of three million poultry by late Saturday.
"We have so far culled nearly 2.9 million poultry since January 14," when the outbreak -- India's third and worst -- was confirmed, Rahaman said.
He added that the "next plan is to disinfect thousands of backyard poultry yards where culling has been done."
The state government was taking all possible steps to stop the spread of bird flu to humans, he said.
Humans typically catch bird flu by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the H5N1 strain may mutate into a form easily transmissible between people.
"All culling workers have been asked to stay for at least 10 days in hospital to take the full course of (antiviral drug) Tamiflu and burn clothes worn during culling," Rahaman said.
At least 700 were already in hospital taking Tamiflu, recommended by the World Health Organisation as a first line of defence against the virus, Rahaman said.
No cases of humans catching bird flu have yet been reported in India or Bangladesh. But in Indonesia on Friday, a 31-year-old woman died of the virus, bringing the toll to 102 in the nation worst hit by the illness.
"If anyone has a cold or fever we are sending his blood sample for tests," Rahaman added.
Once the culling operations were completed, more people would be admitted to hospital to take Tamiflu under supervision, he said.
Neighbouring Assam state ordered a cull in villages bordering West Bengal following suspicious poultry deaths. And Haryana, next to capital New Delhi, has sent dead bird samples for testing.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh slaughtered tens of thousands of chickens on Saturday as four more districts reported detecting bird flu.
"The disease is spreading," livestock department chief Sunil Chandra Ghosh said, insisting authorities had the situation under control.
The H5N1 strain has now spread to 34 out of Bangladesh's 64 districts, forcing police and livestock officials to slaughter 35,000 chickens in the past three days alone, officials said.
The government in Dhaka ordered major hospitals to set up isolation units to treat bird flu suspects.
"We've taken blood samples of 837 people and none have been found positive. We've also confined several people in their homes, while more than a thousand are under our watch," government spokesman Mahmudur Rahman said.
Health officials investigating bird flu cases called the situation "alarming" and getting worse every day.
"There's a huge lack of awareness in the countryside. People are throwing away dead chickens to open fields, canals and ponds. Crows which have eaten the cadavers are dying by the hundreds," a health officer told AFP. The disease was first detected in Bangladesh last February near the capital Dhaka. It was almost dormant by late 2007, but made a forceful comeback in January this year.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=newsdetails vAlign=top>Red Alarm over Bird Flu
Better plan needed to prevent outbreak of epidemic
Md Rajib Hossain
<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=osdn-navtext></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Until recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu virus, many people thought the virus has gone away. But it has not really; it is still around. Experts say it was largely "dormant" in recent months. Now the virus returns with more strength and has become more widespread.
Ninety nine commercial and backyard poultry farms in 31 out of our 64 districts have reportedly been infected with the deadly virus so far and it continues to spread. Everyday new areas are found infected raising concern amongst government officials, farmers, scientists and the general people. Over 364000 chickens have been culled after detection of the virus in the country. Experts urged to take immediate steps to tackle the situation.
Last year, for the first time H5N1strain emerged as a threat. Experts urged to be prepared for an epidemic that could kill millions of the population and damage our poultry farms. But very few initiatives were taken since that time to prevent further outbreak and handle the emergency.
The virus is known to have infected nearly 335 people in 12 countries and killed 206 since 2003 worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Most of the human cases were linked with close contacts with sick birds. So far, no humans have tested positive in the country. But the people are at great risk as human cases of bird flu have generally been linked to the contact with infected poultry.
Bangladesh has 125,000 small and large poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually. About 4 million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.
Health experts fear that the H5N1 virus, if given enough opportunities, may develop the characteristics it needs to start another influenza pandemic. The virus has already met all prerequisites for the outbreak of a pandemic and gradually increases its ability to spread efficiently and sustainably among humans.
The virus can improve its transmissibility among humans through two principal mechanisms. The first is a ?reassortment? event, in which genetic material is exchanged between human and avian viruses during co-infection of a human or pig. Reassortment could result in a fully transmissible pandemic virus, announced by a sudden surge of cases with explosive spread.
The second mechanism is a more gradual process of adaptive mutation, whereby the capability of the virus to bind to human cells increases during subsequent infections of humans. Adaptive mutation, expressed initially as small clusters of human cases with some evidence of human-to-human transmission, would probably give the world some time to take defensive action, if detected sufficiently early. The virus may mutate or change into a form that passes easily from human to human, causing an epidemic that could spread very rapidly in our densely populated country.
?In many places dead chickens are discarded in open air rather than culled or burred and faeces of the infected birds loaded with the H5N1 virus are not disposed of properly and dumped in public places. It poses a great threat for the spread of the virus along with the migratory routes of wild waterfowl. If this continues, the outbreaks will also continue,? warned Dr Vidyut Kumar, Convener of Bird Flu Control Room. ?It is the backyard farms that pose a real danger more than the commercial ones. Proper awareness at individual level is very essential? he added.
Director of Instituted of Epidemiology, Disease control & Research (IEDCR), Mahmudur Rahman expressed that consumers should be aware of the risk of cross-contamination. When handling raw poultry or raw poultry products, persons involved in food preparation should wash their hands thoroughly and clean and disinfect surfaces in contact with the poultry products. Hand washing after handling any bird or sick chicken is very important and simply soap and hot water are sufficient for this purpose.
Consumers need to be sure that all parts of the poultry are fully cooked (no "pink" parts). Eggs also should be properly cooked (no "runny" yolks). The H5N1 virus is sensitive to heat. Normal temperatures used for cooking (700C in all parts of the food) will kill the virus.
Domestic ducks can now excrete large quantities of highly pathogenic virus without showing signs of illness, and are now acting as a "silent" reservoir of the virus, perpetuating transmission to other birds. This adds yet another layer of complexity to control efforts and removes the warning signal for humans to avoid risky behaviours.
In many places, poultry farms are placed over pond or lake and fish farming in same pond goes simultaneously. If these poultry are infected, it could spread the virus in the water by shedding the virus loaded faeces in underneath pond. It could devastate our entire bio-security, informed Mr Rahman.
However, fears of a new pandemic, which could claim millions of lives, have not been realised so far, even though the mortality rate of the disease among humans has risen above 60 percent.
Altogether, more than half of the laboratory-confirmed cases have been fatal. H5N1 avian influenza in humans is still a rare disease, but a severe one that must be closely watched and studied, particularly because of the potential of this virus to evolve in ways that could start a pandemic.
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right width=60><!--
One of several CNG filling stations between Kanchpur Bridge and Jatrabari of the capital which BNP big shots built on the Kutubkhali canal, drastically reducing Dhaka's drainage capability. PHOTO: STAR --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Belal Ahmed of Ananna Poultry at Savar stares at his farm where all 2200 birds were buried. Belal says the birds were free from the bird flu but culled due to the farm's closeness to a farm where the disease had broken out. Photo: STAR
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Little Prionti was running after a candy floss vendor, but her father Suruz Gomez did not have the heart to follow.
Suruz, a new poultry farmer in Savar, had just submitted his fate to God, the only power he believes can now save the family's livelihood from the destruction being wreaked across the region by bird flu.
Suruz's plight is not uncommon. In Bangladesh's poultry industry thousands of small entrepreneurs who have risked all to set up small farms are now facing ruin.
About two kilometres away from Suruz's farm, Belal of Ananna Poultry has already lost the battle. All 2200 birds on the farm were buried, although Belal says the birds were free from the bird flu but culled due to the farm's closeness to a farm where the disease had broken out.
The same fate has hit the farm of Titas, a young entrepreneur, who could do nothing but watch the burial of his 1800 birds at midnight of January 17.
Both Belal and Titas bet their future on the poultry business at a same village near Rajashan of Saver. They are now jobless. Titas has left for his home village, while Belal is searching for a way out.
?What should I say? I have lost my way in the middle of the road,? Belal Ahmed, a 35 year-old man, told The Daily Star on Friday as he stood beside his closed farm.
?They (govt officials) came at midnight and buried all the birds. There was nothing to do but watch the killing. The government will pay me Tk 70 per bird. But my cost per bird is about Tk 275,? he said.
The bird flu or avian influenza, which broke out in Bangladesh early last year, is now threatening the sustainability of the poultry industry which supports nearly five million people and contributes 1.6 percent to GDP.
Until January 30, the government, as per its preventive measure, had culled over 3.57 lakh birds in 30 districts, according to official data.
Industry operators said tens of thousands poultry farms out of a total of 1.5 lakh were shut down last year due to mainly to bird flu threat and the rising cost of poultry feeds.
Titas invested his family savings along with borrowings from relatives to set up the farm. On top of this he has debts of around Tk 3 lakh to poultry feed suppliers.
?The farm is now empty that's why I have come to my home village. The farm was our main earning source,? Titas said on the phone from Rajbari .
The outbreak of the disease, industry operators said, has ravaged the poultry sector, resulting in a steady decline in consumption demand, although farmers are cutting down their selling prices to narrow the loss margins.
The crisis has also brought a halt to the setting up of new poultry farms, while producers of day-old chick are now pushing farmers to buy the day-old chick at a fraction of their production cost.
?It's a very bad situation. I am now pushing farmers to buy day-old chicks. Sometimes I sell day old chicks at between Tk 4-5 while sometimes at I have to give them away,? Moshiur Rahman of Paragon Poultry, said Saturday.
?I am being forced to kill the remaining chicks because I can't afford to keep them,? he said.
Moshiur, also convener of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Co-Ordination Committee, claimed over 40 poultry hatcheries out of 110 in Bangladesh were shut down over the last five months due to a collapse in demand.
?It's a terrible situation. The government should declare emergency for the sector. The officials should also not do anything to discourage consumers,? he said.
Leading operators said they have cut their weekly production of day old chicks to between 3.0-3.5 million, with about 25 percent of the total produce remaining unsold.
Operators also blamed government for its relaxed attitude in controlling the disease at a time when the extent of outbreak was limited to certain areas.
2008-01-30 16:32:12</TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="26%"> </TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="12%">
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=430 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=dates id=hDate height=27>Published: Saturday, 2 February, 2008, 01:58 AM Doha Time</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px"><TD class=articalBody id=artical1 vAlign=top height=345>DHAKA: In less than a year, bird flu has spread to nearly half of Bangladesh?s 64 districts, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people reliant on the poultry industry and driving up food prices. 
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=osdn-navtext></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Until recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu virus, many people thought the virus has gone away. But it has not really; it is still around. Experts say it was largely "dormant" in recent months. Now the virus returns with more strength and has become more widespread.
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=osdn-navtext>
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