BANGLADESH - BF outbreaks in 2 new locales

[sharon sanders]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=newsdetails vAlign=top>Bird flu detected in another Savar farm
2,000 chickens culled
Staff Correspondent

The avian influenza virus was detected yesterday at another poultry farm in Savar. Chickens were being culled at the farm last night.

Laboratory tests confirmed infection of the virus at Laura Poultry Farm at Aukpara in Savar yesterday evening. A total of 2,000 chickens were culled as of 10:00pm yesterday.

All the chickens at the infected farm will be culled, Livestock Department Director Abdul Motaleb told reporters last night.

The army and police cordoned off the infected farm.

Suspicion arose that the farm was infected with avian influenza--bird flu--after a considerable number of chickens died there on Friday, sources in the Savar Upazila Livestock Office said.

Upon receiving information, livestock officers from both the capital and Savar rushed to the farm yesterday morning and sent sample of chickens to the laboratory in Dhaka for testing.

Four teams of the Savar Livestock Office have been conducting drives in the area to investigate if there is any fresh infection of the avian flu virus at any farm or place in the upazila.

Meanwhile, our Narayanganj correspondent reports: Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Dr Chowdhury Sajedul Karim visited two bird flu-infected poultry farms in the district yesterday and urged all to remain alert about the virus' infection.

"Although infection and spreading of the virus has been prevented temporarily, everyone should always remain alert to keep the poultry farm industry alive," said Sajedul Karim at a meeting with poultry farm owners, local journalists and government officials.

"The [fisheries and livestock] ministry will sort out a working plan by next week to determine how to help or compensate the affected poultry farm owners," he added.

Earlier, Sajedul visited Mukta Poultry Farm in Narayanganj sadar upazila and Chistia Poultry Farm at Shiarchar in Fatulla.

The adviser gave assurance to provide modernised instrument, increase trained manpower, and other laboratory facilities for testing bird flu infection.

He also directed the deputy commissioner (DC) to take necessary measures to provide the tuition fees and other necessary academic facilities for the children of the affected poultry farm owners.

Livestock Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman, Joint Secretary Khalilur Rahman Siddique, Deputy Secretary Anisur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner Ahsan Habib and Superintendent of Police Sibgatullah were present at the meeting among others.
There are 989 poultry farms in Narayanganj. A total of 2,476 chickens have so far died since the detection of the virus while 12,004 chickens were culled at the bird flu-infected farms in the district.
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right width=180>
Fisheries and Livestock Adviser CS Karim visits bird flu affected poultry farms in Narayanganj yesterday. PHOTO: Focus Bangla </TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/08/d7040801075.htm

[Susie]

Bangladesh says bird flu spreads to southern region

Bangladesh says bird flu spreads to southern region
Wed 11 Apr 2007 7:12:39 BST

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=DHA235747

DHAKA, April 11 (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to the southern region of Bangladesh, despite persistent efforts by veterinary and health personnel to contain it, a senior official of the fisheries and livestock ministry said.

"The avian virus has been detected at a farm in Noakhali district 200 km (125 miles) south of the capital Dhaka," said the official, Mohammad Abdul Motalib of the livestock department.

He said the H5N1 virus spread despite a struggle by hundreds of veterinary and health officials to hold it in check.

Movement of chickens had been banned outside a 10 sq km (3.9 sq miles) area around affected farms.

More than 75,000 chickens have been culled so far from 28 farms since the outbreak of avian flu was confirmed simultaneously in six farms at Savar near Dhaka on March 22.

Some 550 workers at the infected farms have been given a local version of the Tamiflu anti-viral drug as a precaution, Health Ministry officials said.

No humans have tested positive for the disease in densely populated Bangladesh.

The government says it has sufficient Oseflu, a local version of Tamiflu, produced and marketed by a local firm since last year.

The virus is known to have infected nearly 300 people in 12 countries since 2003, killing more than half of them.

Human cases of bird flu have generally been linked to contact with infected poultry. Health experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that passes easily from human to human, causing a pandemic that could affect millions.

Bangladesh has 125,000 small and large poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually.

About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.

[FluBossie]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

Bangladesh says bird flu spreading

Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:01 PM IST

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bird flu is spreading among poultry in Bangladesh despite persistent efforts by veterinary and health personnel to contain it, fisheries and livestock ministry officials said on Wednesday.

"The avian virus has been detected in three more farms in southern Noakhali, northern Gaibandha and western Jessore districts," said a spokesman of the ministry's livestock department, who declined to be named.

Jessore and Gaibandha districts are close to the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam respectively, where bird flu broke out much earlier, officials said.

Mohammad Abdul Motalib, s senior official of the livestock department, said the H5N1 virus spread despite a struggle by hundreds of veterinary and health officials to hold it in check.

Movement of chickens had been banned outside a 10 sq km (3.9 sq miles) area around affected farms.

Nearly 77,000 chickens have been culled so far from 30 farms since the outbreak of avian flu was confirmed simultaneously in six farms at Savar near Dhaka on March 22.

Nearly 600 workers at the infected farms have been given a local version of the Tamiflu anti-viral drug as a precaution, Health Ministry officials said.

The government says it has sufficient Oseflu, the local version of Tamiflu, produced and marketed by a Bangladesh company since last year.

No humans have tested positive for the disease in densely populated Bangladesh.

The virus is known to have infected nearly 300 people in 12 countries since 2003, killing more than half of them.

Human cases of bird flu have generally been linked to contact with infected poultry. Health experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that passes easily from human to human, causing a pandemic that could affect millions.

Bangladesh has 125,000 small and large poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and six billion eggs annually.

About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.

? Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-04-11T174942Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-293871-1.xml

[Laidback Al]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=newsdetails vAlign=top>Bird Flu
Over 1,000 chicken culled in 2 districts
Staff Correspondent

All 238 free-ranged poultry of different households in Shibobas of Sharsha upazila in Jessore were culled yesterday as the deadly avian influenza was detected there.
Besides, 955 chickens were culled at a poultry farm in Baro Durgapur under Sadar upazila in Gaibandha.
The central avian influenza control room sources said their officials culled all the free-ranged poultry from 44 houses in Shibobas after detecting bird flu in the samples collected from the village. The villagers sent a number of samples to their laboratory and the carcasses tested bird-flu positive, the sources said.
"It is a village in the border area, so the virus infection might have come from the neighbouring country," said a control room official.
Earlier, the spread of the deadly virus was limited to poultry in the farms of the country, not free-ranged poultry.
Our Gaibandha correspondent reports: 955 chickens were culled at Chanda Poultry Farm in Baro Durgapur of Sadar upazila after bird flu was detected there, the first in the district. The joint forces cordoned the whole area off during the culling of the chickens.
The district administration sources said five chickens from one Fakrul Islam's farm died Monday night. The district livestock department officials sent the dead chickens to their head office in Dhaka where the carcasses tested bird-flu positive. The police urged all farm owners in the area to be cautious. The district administration sources said all free-ranged poultry within one kilometre radius of the infected farm would be culled. The administration sealed off the bird flu infected farm.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/11/d7041101107.htm

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Susie]

Coordination lacking among stakeholders: Bird flu

KARACHI: Coordination lacking among stakeholders: Bird flu

http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/12/local3.htm

By Mukhtar Alam

KARACHI, April 11: While there is no authentic account of culling or disposal of H5NI virus infected and dead fowl in Gadap Town, citizens want the government to regulate the poultry farms.

They called for better surveillance and detection methods and urged the government to ensure a policy of openness and order inspection of the three affected farms and their surroundings in Gadap by a team comprising, medical professionals, environmentalists, doctors, microbiologists and virologists, farmers and consumers. The citizens feel there are many questions that need to be answered.

Meanwhile provincial health minister Syed Sardar Ahmad held a meeting on Wednesday with livestock and health department officials and Pakistan Poultry Association representatives and the city district government?s health department.

A source privy to the meeting said the minister observed that there had been no coordination between relevant departments of the government, while on the other hand poultry association also acted in isolation. To check the spread or another outbreak of bird flu, a coordination committee was constituted. Dr Aslam Pervez of the Karachi city government was appointed the focal person for Karachi district on avian influenza or bird flu. He will be assisted by Dr Aslam Jalali of Livestock Department and Dr Zafrul Islam Siddiqui of Pakistan Poultry Association. The minister ordered regular vaccination of birds, while poultry farmers should ensure hygiene at their respective premises, including regular fumigation.

The poultry farmers? representative told the minister that suspected birds were immediately culled in the farms located in Gadap area, to prevent any possible outbreak of the disease.

Livestock and Fisheries Department Secretary, Mohammad Siddiq Memon, told Dawn that sanitisation of infection sites and surrounding areas has been ensured by the farmers and there was no imminent threat of avian influenza. I have been told by technical staff that increased temperature had been helpful in containing the virus, he added.

He said there are about 1,850 small and big farms in Karachi and the interior of Sindh, with about 7.5 million birds, which are visited by 200-250 stock assistants regularly for different purposes including collection of samples.

To a question, he said the modus operandi in the recent virus outbreak adopted with poultry farmers? agreement was to withhold the news about any suspected spread of H5N1 virus. The intention was to avoid a panic situation as it might affect the poultry industry and consumers.

He said he was monitoring the situation and the source of the virus and its manner of transmission in birds in Karachi would be traced. To improve poultry farms monitoring, efforts are being made to increase our field staff?s mobility.

Dr Zafrul Islam of Pakistan Poultry Association said the workers at the three affected farms were daily wage labourers and they had been let go as the farms were closed. The possibility that they may have joined some other farm can not be ruled out, he noted.

I was not directly involved in the culling, but I have been told that magnesium sulphate was given to the birds in the water, in addition supply of feeds was discontinued and lights put off in their sheds to destroy them. He assured that all the birds were buried in a fool proof manner.

To a question, he said the PPA could not inform the provincial or city government officials or take them into confidence as the association had not been officially told by Islamabad about the virus. We acted on our own, and culled about 47,000 birds, while 20,000 died of the infection.

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

Bangladesh says bird flu spreads to southern region
Source: Reuters

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DHA235747.htm

DHAKA, April 11 (Reuters)
Bird flu has spread to the southern region of Bangladesh, despite persistent efforts by veterinary and health personnel to contain it, a senior official of the fisheries and livestock ministry said.

"The avian virus has been detected at a farm in Noakhali district 200 km (125 miles) south of the capital Dhaka," said the official, Mohammad Abdul Motalib of the livestock department.

Movement of chickens had been banned outside a 10 sq km (3.9 sq miles) area around affected farms.

He said the H5N1 virus spread despite a struggle by hundreds of veterinary and health officials to hold it in check.

More than 75,000 chickens have been culled so far from 28 farms since the outbreak of avian flu was confirmed simultaneously in six farms at Savar near Dhaka on March 22.

Some 550 workers at the infected farms have been given a local version of the Tamiflu anti-viral drug as a precaution, Health Ministry officials said.

No humans have tested positive for the disease in densely populated Bangladesh.

The government says it has sufficient Oseflu, a local version of Tamiflu, produced and marketed by a local firm since last year.

The virus is known to have infected nearly 300 people in 12 countries since 2003, killing more than half of them. Human cases of bird flu have generally been linked to contact with infected poultry. Health experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that passes easily from human to human, causing a pandemic that could affect millions.

Bangladesh has 125,000 small and large poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually.

About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.


<table cellpading="0" border="0" cellspacing="0" width="350"><tbody><tr><td class="crumb" align="right">AlertNet news is provided by </td> <td width="112"></td></tr></tbody></table>

[Treyfish]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

Concerted efforts needed to
prevent bird flu: adviser
Staff Correspondent
The fisheries and livestock adviser, CS Karim, on Wednesday said concerted efforts are needed to contain the spread of bird flu in the country.
?The government left no stone unturned to stem the spread of bird flu,? he said at a discussion on ?national table top exercise on avian influenza plan? organised by the directorate of health services in the city.
Chaired by the director general of DG Health Services Md Shahjahan Biswas, the meeting was also addressed by health and family welfare adviser ASM Matiur Rahman, fisheries and livestock secretary Syed Ataur Rahman, health secretary Ehsan Ul Fattah and WHO representative Duangvadee Sungkhobol.
The fisheries adviser said, ?We have constraints in management as well as finance support. But we are firm to prevent the spread of avian flu.?
Emphasising concerted efforts from people of all strata, he said, ?It?s not urgent to count the number of infected chickens.? He also underscored the need for strengthening disease diagnosis capacity.
Apart from a central laboratory, now there are seven field-level laboratories in the country to diagnose the agent of avian flu.
The health adviser said, ?We will have to work together to eliminate the diseases like bird flu and open discussion is very important for this. We should have good management, good monitoring and evaluation system.?
He further said, ?We are not worried as we are prepared. All institutions, including the government ones, and civil society members should work together.?
Mannan Sarker, line director of Centre for Disease Control, said they had stock of 1.33 lakh ampoule antiviral drugs to deal with the emergency situation. ?We had already sent the drugs to different places where the chickens had been infected with H5N1 virus.?
Professor Mahmudur Rahman, the director of the Institution of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, described an overview on avian influenza.
He mentioned that the government had taken some strategies to check the spread of avian flu. ?Interdepartmental, interagency and intersectional links are very important for this,? Professor Mahmud said. http://www.newagebd.com/met.html

[sharon sanders]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

Apparently this story was removed minutes after appearing on the wires:

Protect our small farmers from bird flu
The Daily Star, Bangladesh - 17 minutes ago
The problem: Bird flu has now spread from Biman's farm in Savar to seven districts. If the spread of this virus is not stopped, it will eventually wipe out ...



???

[russell family]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW


Vol. 5 Num 1019 Fri. April 13, 2007

Point-Counterpoint



Protect our small farmers from bird flu
SM Abdur Rahman

The problem: Bird flu has now spread from Biman's farm in Savar to seven districts. If the spread of this virus is not stopped, it will eventually wipe out all the small poultry farmers in Bangladesh. Small farms are owned by rural families, and have been set up with minimal investment. They are extremely vulnerable to bird flu infection for the following reasons:
Small farms have open sheds, which are easily infected (because wild birds can easily enter the sheds).
They sell their eggs and broiler chickens to traders. Traders' vehicles visit many farms everyday, and manure sticks to their wheels. As manure from infected farms carries the bird flu virus, the movement of traders' vehicles can spread bird flu very quickly from one farm to another.
Large poultry farms are far better protected against bird flu infection because they have invested in bio-secure facilities (facilities into which bacteria and viruses cannot easily enter).

Large farms have closed tunnel-ventilated sheds. Closed sheds are unlikely to become infected by wild birds.
Large farms own their own vehicles, whose wheels are washed and disinfected before they enter the farm. So large farms are less likely to be infected by vehicle movement.
Of course, the outbreak at Biman's farm proves that a large farm that is poorly managed (i.e. which has not implemented the above bio-security measures) can still become infected.

The initial outbreak at Biman was probably caused by a combination of two factors: poor bio-security (open poultry sheds) and the presence of large numbers of migratory waterfowl (which can carry the bird flu virus) on the nearby Jahangirnagar University campus.


The solution: To protect the livelihoods of small farmers, the spread of bird flu must be stopped. This can be accomplished by implementing the National Avian Influenza Plan (prepared last year with FAO/WHO assistance).

The plan requires the government to take strong action whenever there is a bird flu outbreak on any farm.


1. A no-movement zone must be established within a 10 km radius of the outbreak. No chickens, eggs or chicks can be allowed to leave this no-movement zone.

2. All chickens (backyard and farm) within a 3 km radius of the outbreak must be culled (killed). Even if these chickens appear healthy, it is likely that they are already infected. Culling them is necessary to stop the spread of the virus.


3. Farmers whose chickens are culled must be compensated, or they will not cooperate with the culling program.


Unfortunately, the plan has not been fully implemented in handling any of the outbreaks to date.

Culling of poultry was carried out within 1 km of the Biman outbreak. This is less than the 3 km radius suggested by the plan.
A 10km no-movement zone was not immediately established. This is why the disease has spread to so many districts after the original Biman outbreak.
Subsequent outbreaks in Tangail, Jamalpur, Naranyanganj and Jessore were handled even more poorly. Poultry present within 1 km of infected farms were not culled, and a 10 km no-movement zone was not effectively established.
Necessary steps: The government is apparently not implementing the National Avian Influenza Plan because shortage of funds is making it difficult to compensate farmers. Without compensation, the culling policy cannot be implemented, and the spread of bird flu cannot be stopped. Funds must be requested from donors so that farmers can be compensated.


However, if that is the government's decision, it should be implemented strictly in all outbreaks. If the culling policy is to be less conservative, establishment of a 10 km no-movement zone becomes even more critical. These zones must immediately be established whenever and wherever there is a new outbreak.



S M Abdur Rahman is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/13/d70413150299.htm

[sharon sanders]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

Thanks Russell Family - I am technologically challenged.

[Treyfish]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

No bird flu detected in Luxmipur poultry farms
Azizur Rahman Azam, Luxmipur

Not a single case of avian influenza or bird flu has been detected in any of the poultry farms in Luxmipur district.
This was informed recently at a joint meeting of the district administration; poultry farm owners, livestock and health officials, local elite and journalists (print and electronic media) here.
Luxmipur district administration organized the meeting at the conference room of Deputy Commissioner's office to take preventive measures and create mass awareness to check spreading of the bird flue virus in the district.
Presided over by Deputy Commissioner Laxmipur Mr. Taslimul Islam the meeting was addressed among others by Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Mr. Aktheruz Zaman, district Livestock officer Mr. Abdul Quddas, Civil Surgeon Laxmipur Mr. Rakibul Ahasan and journalists Golam Rahman, Kamal Hossain, Mr. Azizur Rahman (Azam) and Hossain Ahamed Shajahan.
The meeting was informed that all the poultry farms in the district have already been inspected by the Livestock Department monitoring teams. But the monitoring teams found that all the poultry farms were still remained free from bird flue virus.
The programmes included opening of a monitoring control room in the District Livestock office, functioning of mobile monitoring team to oversee the service of poultry farm owners and bio-security management network in the farms and creating mass awareness to take preventive measures to check spreading of bird flu virus. http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/pe....htm#people-01

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Bangladesh April 7 +

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=newsdetails vAlign=top>Bird Flu
Sayeed Rahman , Founder, BANGLA IT

Bangladesh has 125,000 small and large poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually, with an annual turnover of $750 million. About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.


As four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming, it shows how backward we are as a country since we could not do anything to protect the industry from bird flu.

"If we had the appropriate technology we could confirm the outbreak of the virus at least two-weeks earlier," a veterinary expert said, asking not to be identified.

A UN official said they suspected bird flu had been raging in the country for several weeks or months before the authorities could confirm it.


Bangladesh needed equipment and training for the staff at the laboratory, another official of the fisheries and livestock ministry said.


Samples are sent to the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute but the laboratory cannot do the full range of testing needed to confirm the presence of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

Samples have to be sent to Bangkok for confirmation, a costly and time-consuming step.


Wake up Bangladesh and its so called experts on science and technology and think about the future.
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</TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/16/d70416110388.htm

[Treyfish]

BANGLADESH - BF outbreaks in 2 new locales

<TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%"><TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="55%"><TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Bird flu takes a worse turn </TD></TR><TR><TD width="100%">Enayet Rasul </TD></TR><TR><TD width="100%">4/18/2007 </TD></TR><TR><TD width="100%"></TD></TR><TR><TD width="100%"> THIS, no doubt, marks a turn for the worse in the spread of bird flu in the country. Ever since the first detection of bird flu in some poultry farms at Savar, near Dhaka, two months ago, it was hoped that tough measures like culling of the poultry birds in these farms and quarantining the farms, would lead to a solution and the disease would not spread. But bird flu was subsequently detected in several places since then in Bangladesh at several places far away from Savar and located in different areas. Thus, there is no way to take satisfaction that it was limited to Savar only. Now, the news of the infection spreading to local species of poultry birds adds another dangerous dimension.
The infection of local poultries is far more difficult to contain by culling because these have been traditionally reared around homesteads naturally by people. The local poultry birds roam around freely and are not bred or restricted in their movements systematically like in poultry farms where the movements of the birds, their number, monitoring them for detection of diseases, etc., are easier tasks. Thus, there is every likelihood that the spread of the disease among the local poultry birds will give rise to much greater difficulties in detecting and containing them for culling. Incidentally, people have been more eating the local poultry birds and not their farmed versions after the news of the outbreak of bird flu at Savar. Therefore, the potential of the spread of the disease to humans from local poultries, is also greater than in the past.
A country identified with bird flu gets its image temporarily spoiled internationally. But local efforts to detect and contain it also enhance its goodwill. One may recall in this connection that even otherwise favourite destinations of international tourists or visitors -- Hong Kong and Canada -- were sort of blacklisted for a while after the detection of a few human cases of bird flu in these two countries. So, there is every reason for the government to address the bird flu related issues with even greater urgency.
It is very likely that bird flu came to Bangladesh from India. But infected poultry products from that country are still finding access to this country. India is considered to be a heavily bird flu afflicted country. Therefore, even common sense dictates that the gates to bird flu arriving from that country must be absolutely closed. Bangladesh and India have long and porous borders and border defenders or borders forces such as the BDR and BSF of Bangladesh and India respectively -- whose mission must be to deter smuggling -- must act seriously to stop it. Otherwise, there will remain a real danger that infected birds and eggs could continue to pour into Bangladesh due to the unchastened greed of the smugglers.
Government of Bangladesh (GOB) recently raised the red alert against entry of bird flu carriers from India and the BDR was asked to maintain special vigilance in the border areas. But there is every need to very specially sensitise BDR personnel about the issue. They must be made to understand how grave a health and economic problem it could turn out to be for Bangladesh from any slack in their duties that would permit contagious poultries and eggs to get access inside Bangladesh. Our BDR forces are not so selfish and unpatriotic that they will not respond to the best of their ability once they are ably persuaded to understand that the bird flu threat is not an ordinary one, that it could result in the deaths of a large number of people and cause a major setback for a budding economic sector.
Many countries, not yet affected or affected only marginally, are taking proactive measures to stock medicines to be able to counter a situation of the outbreak of the disease. But Bangladesh has only just contemplated building up of such a stock when it was warned months ago by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and others about the probability of the spread of the disease here and hence the need to take every precaution at the swiftest in this country against it.
The safeguards must also include medicines to treat human cases of the diseases. The best battle weapon against the H5N1 virus in humans is the medicine known is Tamiflu ; it is produced by the Swiss company Roche. But this company has, so far, brought only 3,000 vials of the injection in Bangladesh by its own initiative when other countries afflicted by the disease as well as those countries with high potential to be affected, have already stockpiled huge quantities of Taniflu under programmes directed by their national health authorities or governments.
Bangladesh, presently, appears to be inadequately prepared to cope with even a mild spread of human cases of the disease. But the government of Bangladesh (GOB) needs to be proactive in respect of the worsening bird flu threat . GOB ought to contact Roche immediately to ensure that it gets supplies of Tamiflu in the right quantities in time. As it is, Roche remains too burdened to produce Tamiflue because it has got big orders from many countries around the globe. A late starter like Bangladesh, therefore, could be fatally delayed in getting its orders serviced if it delays much in putting the order in the first place. GOB may also need to appeal to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other donors for emergency funds because each vial of Tamiflu presently costs $ 40 which could put a severe strain on its small health budget if large scale import of the drug is required.
GOB should be also particularly caring to save the poultry sector. It has emerged as a major economic sector in recent years employing about 3.5 million people. The poultry sector in Bangladesh currently adds a value worth some Taka 50 billion or $833 million to the country's GDP. Thus large scale exposure of the poultry farms here to the bird flu virus could mean a major debacle in the economic sense. Worldwide, the mainstream practice is to cull the poultry population on detection of the disease. The practice has led to ruination of poultry sectors in China, Thailand and some other countries where large scale culling was carried out. Therefore, Bangladesh will have to try the best preventive methods in the first place to stop its poultry farms from being affected by the H5N1 virus so that culling is not required. To that end, it should try vaccination though vaccination has not been tried by many countries. But Italy experimented with vaccination of poultry birds against bird flu and it proved to be a big success. So, GOB can contact the Italians and explore the ways and means of getting the vaccine from that country for widespread preventive use in the poultry farms. The vaccine is also very cheap compared to Tamiflu and should be bearable for the poultry farmers here.
Not only vaccine for the birds, the poultry farms in Bangladesh must have some capacity to watch out for signs of that disease which they do not seem to have in most cases at the moment. Relevant GOB officials should visit every poultry farm to see if these have surveillance capacity; if not, then they should train up the poultry farm operators on such surveillance. The poultry farm operators will need special equipment and protective materials such as protective coats, gloves, masks, etc., for both surveillance and for handling infected birds and chickens without infecting themselves. GOB officials will need to ensure that all poultry farm operators will acquire such protective materials with the know-how to use them well if the need should arise. Besides, there should be intense and regular publicity in the media about the dangers of allowing infiltration of the carriers of the H5N1 virus from India. People must be sensitised in their greatest number about the dreadful disease and urged to cooperate with all measures to stop its spread in this country. They should be regularly advised, using the mass media again, to certainly cook all chickens and eggs at high temperature before eating the same as high temperature usually kills the virus.
The spread of the disease among local poultry birds creates special challenges. But the same can be addressed through widespread publicities to make people aware about the needs of culling infected birds and practicing safe methods while handling these birds. The media should be fully and extensively utilised to this end.
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[Treyfish]

BANGLADESH - BF outbreaks in 2 new locales

'Bird flu spreads for lack of proper preventive measures'
Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh Bird Flu Protirodh Nagarik Committee, a citizen platform for creating awareness about bird flu, yesterday said Avian Influenza virus popularly known as bird flu spread out in 32 farms in eight districts because proper preventive measures were not taken from the first affected poultry farm in Savar.


Leaders of the committee alleged that the government and Biman Poultry Farm, the first affected farm by Avian Influenza, did not cull all chickens at the infected zone.

They also said the government and the poultry farm owners should take the preventive measures prepared by National Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan 2006-2008.
"Our 25 lakh people depend on poultry farm business. The government and poultry farm owners will have to strictly follow the preventive measures for safeguarding the most growing business and the people from the attack of Avian Influenza," said Prof Ahmed Kamal, acting convener of the committee, yesterday while addressing a roundtable.

The committee organised the roundtable on 'Preventive Measures to Save Bangladesh from the attack of Avian Influenza' at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

He also said regular surveillance is urgently needed and sufficient number of chickens from all places across the country should be tested to check the disease from epidemic.

Blaming the carelessness of the farm owners and the government, he said ignorance about Avian Influenza is the main cause of spread in Dhaka, Gazipur, Jamalpur, Narayanganj, Gaibandha, Jessore, Tangail and Noakhali.

Engineer M Inamul Haque, former director general of Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Development Board, said the government should investigate how the virus of Avian Influenza has entered the country.
He suggested setting up modern laboratory to check the chicken properly.

Dr Rafiqul Hasan said human being might be affected by Avian Influenza if people are aware of it.

Mass awareness programmes should be launched across the country for safeguarding people and poultry business, he added.
Among others the committee leaders Abul Hasan Rubel and Ziaur Rahman also addressed. http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/18/d70418060985.htm