Bangladesh - H5N1 Mar 16th - Mar 29th

[Sally Furniss]

UN Agency Says Burma Needs Help to Fight Bird Flu

http://www.huliq.com/15263/un-agency...fight-bird-flu

A United Nations agency says that while Burma responded quickly to outbreaks of bird flu last month, it needs more help to continue its fight against the disease in the long term.

The Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, says that the source of an outbreak that spread to four townships around Rangoon in late February is still unknown.

To help prevent further outbreaks, the FAO says that more intensive surveillance was needed around Rangoon.

It is also recommending that the military-ruled country strengthen its lab capabilities, animal health services and public awareness campaigns.

The FAO is providing Burma with $1.4 million in emergency assistance to help fight the disease. - VOA News

[Sally Furniss]

Bangladesh culls 30,000 chickens after birds' death sparks bird flu fears

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/latestne...7322/45037.htm

2007/3/22
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)


Bangladeshi authorities recently culled about 30,000 chickens at a state-owned farm after many died mysteriously, sparking fears of a bird flu outbreak that later proved unfounded, an official and a domestic news agency said Thursday.

Chickens at a farm owned and run by Biman Bangladesh Airlines began dying last month, prompting authorities to cull all the birds in the farm this month, an official of the country's livestock department told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.

But authorities later got confirmation from at least three local laboratories that it was Exotic Newcastle, a fatal respiratory virus in birds, that caused the deaths of the chickens, the official said without providing further details.

"Initially we could not determine what happened but we didn't take any risk," the official said. "We are now contented that it's not bird flu."

Local news agency bdnews24.com reported that samples of the infected chickens have been sent to a laboratory in Thailand to reconfirm the earlier test results.

"We are convinced by the local laboratory test results. To make the results internationally convincing, we have sent the samples to a foreign laboratory," the agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The agency said the virus has spread to some other private farms in Savar, an industrial zone outside the capital, Dhaka.

The virus, which is locally known as Ranikhet, is a contagious and fatal viral disease affecting all species of birds but it has no record of attacking humans. It is so deadly that many birds die without showing any signs of disease. A death rate of almost 100 percent can occur in unvaccinated poultry flocks while it can also infect and cause death even in vaccinated birds.

The South Asian nation has so far reported no cases of bird flu and it has banned import of poultry products from more than 50 countries as part of a preventive measure to check bird flu from entering the country.

An outbreak of H5N1 virus in Bangladesh could devastate the impoverished country's poultry industry, comprised of about 150,000 farms with an annual turnover of about US$750 million (euro625 million), officials said.

[sharon sanders]

DHAKA, March 22 (Reuters) - Bangladesh said on Thursday the H5N1 bird flu virus had been detected in poultry near the capital Dhaka.

"Avian influenza virus has been detected in a poultry firm in Savar, 25 km from Dhaka," the information ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.

"A special meeting of the (government's) council of advisers was held today with chief adviser of the interim government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair," it said.

"The council was informed by the health, agriculture and livestock advisers that samples from the Savar poultry tested in the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute and the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok showed the existence of the H5N1 virus."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DHA99541.htm

[HenryN]

Bird flu confirmed in Bangladesh
Bangladesh confirmed Thursday its first case of bird flu, prompting mass culling of poultry at a farm outside the capital Dhaka, officials said.
"The cabinet held a special meeting on Thursday afternoon after the health ministry confirmed that bird flu was detected at a poultry farm at Savar," government spokesman Syed Fahim Munaim said.
The government earlier sent samples from poultry on the farm to the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok, which confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
Bangladesh is home to hundreds of thousands of poultry farms which employ more than a million people.
The head of the country's interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, chaired Thursday's cabinet meeting, which agreed to measures to prevent the spread of the disease in the South Asian country, home to 144 million people.
"We've started culling birds at the infected farm and would now take special measures including restricting movement of birds within a 10-kilometre radius area to contain the disease," the spokesman said.
Other measures include health checks on all workers who may have come into contact with the infected birds, he said.
It is unclear how poultry became infected at the farm in Savar town about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Dhaka.
The government released a statement urging residents to remain calm, saying only birds at the one farm had been infected.
The virulent H5N1 virus has killed at least 169 people across the world since late 2003 through contact with infected birds, according to the World Health Organisation.
"The government would like to assure (everyone) that there is no reason for any panic or concern. In fact, poultry birds and eggs can be consumed as usual through normal cooking, according to experts," it said.
A control centre has been opened to oversee the culling and carrying out of the virus containment measures, it said.
Bangladesh had already banned imports of live birds from more than 50 countries including neighbouring India and Myanmar after outbreaks were detected there.
Bangladesh is the world's most densely populated country, and hundreds of its doctors have been trained by the World Health Programme in the event that humans contracted the virus.
Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

http://www.france24.com/france24Publ...wdiq2&cat=null

[HenryN]

Bangladesh says detects bird flu in poultry
Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:17 AM IST



DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh said on Thursday the H5N1 bird flu virus had been detected in poultry near the capital Dhaka.
"Avian influenza virus has been detected in a poultry firm in Savar, 25 km from Dhaka," the information ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
"A special meeting of the (government's) council of advisers was held today with chief adviser of the interim government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair," it said.
"The council was informed by the health, agriculture and livestock advisers that samples from the Savar poultry tested in the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute and the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok showed the existence of the H5N1 virus."
The virus was found in the birds from a poultry firm run by Bangladesh's National Airlines Biman, which has already culled 30,000 birds over the last few days.
Biman officials had earlier denied the culling had any relation with bird flu. They were not immediately available on Thursday night for comment.
Syed Abu Siddiq, secretary of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association, said there were 125,000 small and big firms in the country, producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually.
He said some 40 million Bangladeshis were directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.
Last year Bangladesh banned imports of chickens and eggs from 25 countries in Europe and Asia, including India, after H5N1 virus had been found there.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/new...archived=False

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03...angladesh.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Originally Posted by niman

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03...angladesh.html

Commentary

H5N1 in Bangladesh
Recombinomics Commentary
March 22, 2007

Bangladesh confirmed Thursday its first case of bird flu, prompting mass culling of poultry at a farm outside the capital Dhaka, officials said.

Bangladesh is home to hundreds of thousands of poultry farms which employ more than a million people

The above comments confirm the detection of H5N1 in Bangladesh. Because of Bengladesh’s proximity to India, detection of H5N1 is not a surprise. Birds that migrate to Qinghai Lake in the spring winter in northern India. Although H5N1 was acknowledged last year in western India, there have been no confirmed cases in the wild birds that migrate to Qinghai Lake. This year media reports described the detection of bird flu in northeastern India, but those reports were not officially confirmed.

The presence of H5N1 in Bangladesh may provide of view of H5N1 in northeastern India. The sequences reported last year in India were the Qinghai strain, although the HA was distinct from previously described Qinghai sequences, and the NA sequence was not Qinghai, indicating the H5N1 reported in India were reassortants, signally dual infections and significant levels of H5N1.

H5N1 in Bangladesh is also a cause for concern because it is the most densely populated country in the world and has a significant poultry population.

.

[Sally Furniss]

Bird Flu Detected in Burma's Neighbor

http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=1194

Bird flu has been detected in a poultry farm on the outskirts of Dhaka in Bangladesh, a close neighbor of the military ruled Burma, officials report.

Advisor for Health and Family Welfare Major General (retired) ASM Matiur Rahman, and Advisor for Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock Dr. CS Karim informed Bangladesh high government officials that the avian influenza virus has recently been detected in a poultry farm in Savar of Dhaka.

However, poultry birds infected with H5N1 strain have not been detected in the country outside of the Savar area, the official said.

"The Bangladesh government would like to assure that there is no reason for any panic or concern. In fact, poultry birds and eggs can be consumed as usual through normal cooking," experts stated in the official announcement.

This is the first time the bird flu has been detected in Bangladesh and the authorities have taken necessary action to prevent the spread of the virus to the rest of the country.

[KBD]

Bird Flu Reaches Bangladesh, Kills Poultry Near Dhaka (Update2)

(Adds comment from UN agency official in fourth paragraph.)

By Ashok Bhattacharjee
March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh reported its first
outbreak of bird flu after the H5N1 strain of the virus killed
chickens on farms near Dhaka, the world's 10th largest city.
Laboratories in Dhaka and Bangkok confirmed the diagnosis,
Syed Fahim Munaim, a spokesman for Bangladesh's Chief Adviser,
said today. Veterinary officials are conducting surveillance
within a 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) radius of the infected farms at
Savar, an industrial zone on the outskirts of the capital. Dhaka
has about 13 million people.
The outbreak makes Bangladesh the 57th country to report an
infection in birds since 2003. Diseased birds increase the risk
of human infection and provide chances for H5N1 to mutate into a
form that's as contagious to people as seasonal flu.
``As long as birds remain infected, there is a risk of
human infection,'' Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World
Health Organization in Geneva, said in a telephone interview
today. He said the risk to people is small ``because human
infection is rare.''
The H5N1 virus has struck at least 281 people in a dozen
countries since late 2003, according to the WHO. Sixty percent
of cases were fatal. Scientists have said the virus might kill
millions if it were to spread easily among people.
Almost all human H5N1 cases have been linked with close
contact with sick or dead birds, such as children playing with
them or adults butchering them or plucking feathers, according
to the Geneva-based WHO.
``The more majority of all instances of human infection
have occurred because of contact with so-called backyard
poultry'' in developing countries, Hartl said.

Among Asia's Poorest

Bangladesh, with a population of about 150 million, is one
of Asia's poorest. According to the Human Development Report
2006, it was ranked 137th out of 177 countries based on a
composite of measures that include life expectancy, adult
literacy and education as well as income. East Timor and Nepal
were the only other countries in Asia to rank lower.
Bangladeshi officials culled some birds in the affected
area to control the viruses spread, Munaim said. He was unable
to say how many fowl were destroyed.
State officials are scheduled to hold a press conference in
Dhaka at 4 p.m. local time today.

--Editor: J. Gale

[Niko]

A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Bangladesh, 1st case suspected

******
[1] Bangladesh, 1st case suspected
Date: Thu 22 Mar 2007
From: Mary Marshall
Source: Reuters Alertnet [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22401264.htm>

Bangladesh says detects bird flu in poultry
-------------------------------------------
Bangladesh said on Thursday [22 Mar 2007] the H5N1 bird flu virus had
been detected in poultry near the capital Dhaka.
"Avian influenza virus has been detected in a poultry firm in Savar,
25 km from Dhaka," the information ministry said in a statement late
on Thursday [22 Mar 2007].
"A special meeting of the (government's) council of advisers was held
today [22 Mar 2007] with chief adviser of the interim government Dr.
Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair," it said.
"The council was informed by the health, agriculture and livestock
advisers that samples from the Savar poultry tested in the Bangladesh
Livestock Research Institute and the National Institute of Animal
Health in Bangkok showed the existence of the H5N1 virus."
The virus was found in the birds from a poultry firm run by
Bangladesh's National Airlines Biman, which has already culled 30 000
birds over the last few days.
Biman officials had earlier denied the culling had any relation with
bird flu. They were not immediately available on Thursday [22 Mar
2007] night for comment.
Syed Abu Siddiq, secretary of Bangladesh Poultry Industries
Association, said there were 125 000 small and big firms in the
country, producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually.
He said some 40 million Bangladeshis were directly or indirectly
associated with poultry farming.
Last year [2006], Bangladesh banned imports of chickens and eggs from
25 countries in Europe and Asia, including India, after H5N1 virus
had been found there.
--
ProMED-mail


[If officially confirmed and duly notified, Bangladesh will become
the 61st OIE-member on the list of countries infected with H5N1 since
the start of the panzootic at the end of 2003. An interactive map,
showing all ongoing and resolved H5N1 outbreaks (records also in the
Indian subcontinent) is available at
<http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php>.
Official confirmation (or otherwise) of the 1st outbreak in this
country is anticipated soon. - Mod.AS]

[sharon sanders]

Bird flu spreads to more farms in Bangladesh
Fri Mar 23, 2007 7:08 PM IST



DHAKA (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to six poultry farms near Bangladesh's capital, the government said on Friday, sparking a nationwide alert.
The United Nations also expressed concern.
C.S. Karim, the government adviser for agriculture and livestock, said among more than 42,400 poultry on the six farms in Savar, over 12,000 had died and another 21,000 had been culled over the past few days.
The H5N1 avian flu virus has not spread to other areas of the country and there was no cause for panic, he told a news conference. Savar is 25 km north of the capital.
Dr. Duangvadee Sungkhobol, representative of U.N.'s World Health Organisation in Dhaka, said: "We are very concerned because this is a highly densely populated country where people, animals and poultry live very close".
"The government has taken aggressive measures to stop the spread of the disease and that WHO has confidence it (the government) would be able to limit the spread," she told the same news conference.
The disease was confirmed through tests by laboratories in Bangladesh and Thailand, the government said late on Thursday.
Another U.N. official also expressed concern.
"Maybe the outbreak of avian flu started in the country weeks or months before but the authorities took a long time to confirm it."
"We are talking to the government and relevant agencies to find out the extent of the spread of H5N1 in Bangladesh," the official said on Friday. They asked not to be identified.
Health experts had long expected an outbreak of H5N1 because the country is surrounded by India and Myanmar, which have reported bird flu infections.
Myanmar reported another outbreak of bird flu on Wednesday, saying a chicken farm had been hit outside the capital, where the H5N1 virus reappeared in four areas last month.
Bangladesh's dense population and large numbers of backyard poultry also increased the risks of outbreaks, experts have said.
The government has banned transport of poultry from affected areas, imposed constant monitoring of poultry farms across the country by joint forces led by the army and health checks on people working on the farms, Karim said.
"We have put the health network across the country on high alert and kept one specialised hospital ready to face any emergency," the government's health adviser, retired army major-general A.S.M. Matiur Rahman, said.
Syed Abu Siddiq, secretary of the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association, said there were 125,000 small and large poultry firms in the country, producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually.
Annual turnover was $750 million, he said.
About four million Bangladeshis were directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/new...a-292067-1.xml

[Niko]

Chicken farmers protest bird flu cull

From correspondents in Dhaka
March 24, 2007 09:59pm

Article from: Agence France-Presse


WORKERS at a state-run poultry farm near the Bangladesh capital have protested at the culling of chickens infected by the H5N1 virus, forcing authorities to call in the army to carry out the slaughter.

The farm at Jirani Bazar, 30km north of Dhaka, is one of six where the avian flu was detected in the past few days, prompting authorities to order mass culling to stop the disease spreading across the densely populated nation.
But employees opposed the measure, saying their livelihood was at threat.


“We cannot let this burning to go ahead,” said Jannatul Ferdous.

“If the birds go, we will starve to death,” she said.


Other workers stood outside the gates of the small farm, chanting slogans: “go away, don't kill the birds”.


Farm offiical Mahbubur Rashid said troops were called later to complete the culling of birds.


Nearly 38,000 poultry birds have been culled in the six infected farms over the last few days after about 12,000 had died from the disease, officials from the livestock ministry said.


All poultry in farms and household within a square kilometre of the infected farms would be killed, the ministry said.


“The Government is very much determined to ensure that the deadly virus does not travel farther,” a Government official said.


The H5N1 avian flu virus has not spread to other areas of the country and there was no cause for panic, the Government has said.


Health experts had expected an outbreak of H5N1 because the country is surrounded by India and Myanmar, which have reported bird flu infections
Bangladesh's dense population and large numbers of backyard poultry also increased the risks of outbreaks, experts have said.


The Government has banned transport of poultry from affected areas, imposed constant monitoring of poultry farms across the country by joint forces led by the army and health checks on people working on the farms.


Additional reporting by Azad Majumder and Masud Karim


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...-38197,00.html

[Theresa42]

Hat-tip, treyfish!

Taking chicken, eggs safe despite bird flu, say experts: Tk 7,000cr poultry sector under threat
By Staff Reporter
Sat, 24 Mar 2007

In the wake of detection of deadly avian influenza (H5N1) or bird flu virus in several chicken farms in the outskirts of capital Dhaka, the Tk 7,000 crore poultry industry now faces grave threat.

The government has already confirmed the detection of bird flu at several poultry firms at Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj, and taken measures to stop spread the disease.

The bird flu was first appeared at Biman Poultry Farm sometime in the third week of February.

The outbreak was first learnt on March 21 last when Biman culled 30,000 chickens in its poultry farms at Ganakbari, Savar for fear of the killer disease.

Two state-run and many private laboratories have separately confirmed the viral disease, which is highly contagious for chickens and deadly for humans. The government also sent samples to Thailand for a laboratory test where the findings were confirmed.

The disease also affected 13 other private poultry farms in Kashimpur and Sreepur in Gazipur, not far from the Biman Poultry Complex.

Health adviser Maj Gen (retd) Motiur Rahman said the government agencies took urgent steps soon after the detection of bird flu at the firms.

Agriculture and Livestock Adviser Dr CS Karim said the urgent steps included culling and burning of thousands of chickens at affected farms in Dhaka, Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj.

More than 36,000 poultry birds were culled overnight as intensive countrywide monitoring was underway against bird flu spread.

“Containment of the situation is our prime task right this moment,” Adviser Dr Karim told a press briefing yesterday.

The adviser said livestock officials in the past two days inspected 810 poultry farms across Bangladesh but the infliction apparently remained concentrated on the six ranches within one kilometre radius of the Biman Bangladesh’s poultry farm in Savar, where the outbreak was first reported.

Deputy commissioners were asked to carryout intensive inspection of poultry farms while troops were called out to assist police in the task while authorities have decided to continue the exercise for at least next 45 days.

There are some 1,30,000 large, medium and small poultry farms in the country where some 35 to 40 lakh people are employed. These farms have invested some Tk 6,000 crore and have an annual turnover of Tk 7,000 crore. These farms provides 600 crore of eggs and 25 crore of broiler chickens, each weighing 1300-1500 grams, annually, industry sources said.

However, according to livestock department statistics, the number of registered poultry farms is 52,000 while non-registered ones total 1,52,000 having an estimated 20 crore poultry birds.

Officials said directly four lakh people were dependent on the estimated 2 billion dollar poultry industry, growing at a rate of about 60 percent.

Dr CS Karim said “the compensation process will follow automatically” although no modalities were fixed yet for compensation of the affected poultry farm owners.

The Agriculture, Livestock and Health Ministries opened round the clock control rooms to monitor the developments as the government yesterday ordered a series of steps including health examination of people at inflicted poultry farms.

International bodies including World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) joined the campaign pledging technical and financial supports in facing the deadly phenomenon, which so far killed 169 people and attacked 281 others in 60 countries in the latest bird flu outbreak.

Health Adviser (Retd) Maj Gen Matiur Rahman said no human case of avian influenza was reported. Bangladesh has preparedness to detect and treat flu victims at the Chest Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali, he said.

Rahman said preparations were underway from two years ago when National Avian Influenza Human Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan Bangladesh 2006-2008 was formulated and a large number of doctors were trained to identify flu victims.

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/pub...le_34945.shtml

[Treyfish]

Warden Message, March 23, 2007
Warden Message
The Bangladesh Government has confirmed that there has been an outbreak of avian influenza in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka. The government announced that they will cull poultry in that area. There are no reported cases of human illness.

The U.S. Embassy reminds all citizens that the U.S. Department of State has a website on avian influenza, at http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/...ealth_1181.html. We encourage Americans resident in Bangladesh to familiarize themselves with this fact sheet, and use the links to other U.S. Government websites for more information.

The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka can be reached at (880-2) 885-5500 during regular hours and for after-hours emergencies. Our website address is dhaka.usembassy.gov. For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, Bangladesh Public Announcement, Bangladesh Consular Information Sheet and other Public Announcements and Travel Warnings can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada; or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 am to 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

U.S. Embassy
Dhaka, Bangladesh
http://dhaka.usembassy.gov/warden_message_mar23_07.html


Edited to add: Thanks Treyfish for this post.

FT is now carrying Warden Messages in the Government and NGO forum

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=965
__________________

[Theresa42]

Originally Posted by Theresa42

The government has already confirmed the detection of bird flu at several poultry firms at Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj, and taken measures to stop spread the disease.

The bird flu was first appeared at Biman Poultry Farm sometime in the third week of February.

The outbreak was first learnt on March 21 last when Biman culled 30,000 chickens in its poultry farms at Ganakbari, Savar for fear of the killer disease.

Two state-run and many private laboratories have separately confirmed the viral disease, which is highly contagious for chickens and deadly for humans. The government also sent samples to Thailand for a laboratory test where the findings were confirmed.

The disease also affected 13 other private poultry farms in Kashimpur and Sreepur in Gazipur, not far from the Biman Poultry Complex.

Thought it might be time for a map or two....

Savar is a sub-district within Dhaka District. Dhaka City is also within Dhaka District -- which is, in turn, within Dhaka Division.

Gazipur and Narayanganj are two other districts within the Dhaka Division.

This Biman Poultry Farms where the outbreak seems to have started is in Ganakbari, Savar sub-district, Dhaka District (see 1st map below).

Kashimpur and Sreepur are in Gazipur District which borders on Dhaka District in part adjacent to Savar sub-district -- i.e. Gazipur is just northeast of Savar -- and Kashimpur specifically borders directly on Savar (so Kashimpur is very close to Ganakbari). Kashimpur (area) and Sreepur (city & area) are on the 2nd map below.

Narayanganj District is east of Dhaka District and southeast of Gazipur District (3rd map).

[Theresa42]

Well -- here's a study done by the FAO in the '90s on combining poultry (chicken) raising with fish farming -- specifically catfish farming (Clarias gariepinus). One of the study locales was Biman Poultry Farms in Savar, Bangladesh:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/field/003/AC380E/AC380E02.htm

Wonder if they're still farming cat-fish there?

And, again, all I have to say is -- ewwwww!

Thus the fish was continuously fed by the chicken (housed above the pond water) in the form of excreta and waste feed. In addition, supplementary feed was given in small quantity for magur. The chicken house was built on the pond water surface making provisions for the chicken excreta and waste feed to drop directly in the water below the floor of the chicken-house. This arrangement allowed the magur to feed on the chicken excreta and waste feed as they dropped in the water.

[Theresa42]

Looks like Biman Poultry is a subsidiary (or whatever) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biman

From their corporate website:

Biman Flight Catering Center (BFCC) - a modern flight kitchen of the airlines, has the capacity of producing 8500 meals a day and is providing excellent cuisine not only to Biman but also to other international airlines such as Aeroflot, Gulf Air, Iran Air, Qatar Airlines, Druk Airways, Dragon Airlines, which are operating through Dhaka....

Biman Poultry Complex, a potential subsidiary of Biman was formed in 1976 which was put into operation in November 1980 to create profit earning concern to augment cash flow of Biman. The Complex is situated at Ganakbari, Savar, Dhaka, 40 Km North-West of Dhaka City. This project has a landed area of 75 acres, of which 5 acres poultry shed, 1 acre residential area and remaining 69 acres are agricultural land.

http://www.bimanair.com/aboutus/corporate_profile2.asp

[Theresa42]

Hat-tip, treyfish!

Bangladesh Culls More Chickens as Bird Flu Spreads
March 25, 2007

Bangladesh has culled thousands more chickens amid an avian flu scare as the virus spread to additional areas of the country, officials said on Sunday.
Bangladesh has already slaughtered some 40,000 birds since confirming the outbreak of the H5N1 flu virus in six farms near the capital Dhaka last week and plans to cull all poultry within one sq km (0.4 sq-mile) of infected farms.

Mohammad Abdul Motalib, a senior official at the government's fisheries and livestock ministry, said some 9,000 chickens were killed on Saturday on three farms north of Dhaka after laboratory tests showed traces of the virus in the areas.

"We are awaiting test results to know if they had died of the avian flu," Motalib told reporters, adding that all affected farms had been sealed.

Some 1,000 poultry birds were reported to have died in a farm at Narayanganj, 20 km from Dhaka.

Several farm workers in Bangladesh have been exposed to the virus. Another senior official at the fisheries and livestock ministry, Syed Ataur Rahman, said authorities have been treating them, without detailing what drugs had been administered.

Local newspapers and residents around the country have reported that more chickens had become ill or had died, although not in large scale. Authorities said they had no official confirmation of an outbreak of the virus.

At least 170 people have died of bird flu in 60 countries, mostly in Asia since 2003, media and other reports said. Health experts fear the virus could trigger a pandemic if it mutates to form a strain that can transmit between humans.

The Bangladeshi government has banned transport of poultry from affected areas and imposed strict monitoring of poultry farms, including by the army.

Traders in Dhaka markets said on Saturday sales of chickens and eggs had dropped by about 10 percent over the last few days.

http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=29498

[sharon sanders]

March 26 2007 at 12:38AM

Dhaka - Three new farms reported bird flu outbreaks in Bangladesh on Sunday after thousands of poultry were destroyed last week due to confirmed cases of the deadly virus, the government said. On Friday, authorities slaughtered more than 40 000 birds at six farms, a day after official confirmation of a bird flu outbreak on the outskirts of Dhaka. The outbreak was now suspected to have spread to farms in the north and central parts of the country, government spokesperson Abdul Motalib said. "Today we have detected bird flu on three more farms in the northern district of Jamalpur and destroyed about 9& ;000 birds there. We will now destroy all the birds within a one-kilometre area of the infected farms," he said. 'We have detected bird flu on three more farms' "We also have reports of mass deaths of chickens in central Narayanganj and northern Dinajpur districts. We have sent the samples to laboratories for tests," Motalib said. Officials confirmed Bangladesh's first case of bird flu late on Thursday after samples from one farm near the capital were sent to the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok and tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus. The caretaker government has agreed on a string of measures to prevent the spread of the disease in the densely-populated south Asian country of 144 million people. The H5N1 virus has killed at least 169 people since late 2003, most of them in Asia, according to the World Health Organisation. Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions. Bangladesh is home to hundreds of thousands of poultry farms which employ more than a million people. The country had already banned imports of live birds from more than 50 countries including neighbouring India and Myanmar, after outbreaks were detected there. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_i...4604935C177427

[Treyfish]

Poultry industry faces uncertainty
Staff Correspondent

Leaders of World Poultry Science Association Bangladesh Branch (WPSA-BB) yesterday said the latest outbreak of the bird flu virus will hit hard the export potentials of the country's poultry products.

They feared an imminent disruption of the industry if the menace cannot be handled carefully.

"A few poultry growers had recently started exporting poultry products to some Middle Eastern countries, North Eastern region of India, and Nepal, and the present outbreak will hit hard this effort," said WPSA-BB Secretary General MA Saleque.

Cashing on Bangladesh's reputation for remaining free from the bird flu virus, a few entrepreneurs started entering some new poultry markets, which even include Europe, he added.

Saleque, also a high official of Brac, said different microcredit providers injected about 20 percent credit to the industry while different government and private banks contributed another 20 percent. These organisations may face recovery crisis in the wake of the recent invasion of bird flu in the country.

WPSA-BB President Mashiur Rahman said the outbreak will suddenly stall the booming poultry sector involving directly around 10 million people. He hoped that both the government and private entrepreneurs will jointly face the situation boldly.

Mashiur expressed satisfaction over the government's readiness to face the challenges, adding that the whole poultry industry will also face up to the challenge.

SCENARIO AT SAVAR AND GAZIPUR
Poultry farmers in Savar and Gazipur, the two main centres of the country's poultry industry, feared a huge investment loss because of the panic created by the detection of bird flu. They also feared a collapse in the marketing chain of eggs and fowls.

The District Livestock Office in Gazipur said there are 7,135 farms for layer birds and 5,336 farms for broiler chicken in five upazilas in the district and the total number of broiler and layer birds is more than 2.71 crore.

In the Bhabanipur, Ganakpara and Jirani areas in Savar, the farmers were seen wearing a glum look.

The government authorities on Friday culled 3,000 fowls of Happy Poultry of Ganakpara, which the government has declared a bird flu affected area.

Proprietor of the farm Abdul Latif is worried about the future. He said his father started the poultry business in 1998 with a small investment and the business--now with two farms--gradually grew bigger and its total liability stood at more than Tk 40 lakh.

"I lost the whole business of one farm as all its fowls had to be dumped at the time of its full production," he said. The marketing activities are also paralysed since the government directed not to sell eggs or fowls until further orders, he added.

Latif said it will be difficult to come back to the full swing in the business again as it takes at least six months after investing to come into production.

Asked about the government's decision to compensate the affected, he said, "We are yet to receive any assurance from the government about compensation. The government officials came and destroyed our produces but said the matter of compensation will be discussed later."
All the farms in the area are facing huge investment losses.

Bhai Bhai poultry farm in the same area lost its investment as its 3,500 chicks and fowls had to be dumped.

Its proprietor Jasim Uddin submitted an estimated loss of Tk 24 lakh for compensation to the Gazipur District Livestock Officer yesterday.

The panic also resulted in dull business at places outside the infected areas.

Adbur Razzak, a farmer of Bhabanipur, said although his farm is out of the infected areas, the sales of eggs and fowls experienced a drastic fall in the last few days.

He took a loan of Tk 10 lakh from the Ashulia branch of Sonali Bank two years ago to expand his business. His Suma Poultry Farm now has 6,000 chicks and fowls.

"I am not worried about bird flu but I am anxious about how I will pay my next bank instalment," said Razzak, who has to pay the bank Tk 40,000 per month against his loans.

"The District Livestock Office instructed us to maintain cleanliness in the farms and report it if any death of chickens occurs," said Mozammel Haque, owner of a poultry farm containing 1,000 broiler chickens.

He said poultry farm owners are constantly communicating with the District Livestock Office and following its instructions.

"We are working together since an outbreak of bird flu in any farm will bring disaster to all of us," said another poultry farm owner in Gazipur municipal area.

Meanwhile, the District Livestock Office said three teams were formed to investigate and monitor the poultry farms in the unaffected areas. The teams surveyed 90,000 birds in 38 farms in the district as of yesterday, it said.

"If any abnormal or massive death of birds is found, we will collect the sample for test, but as of now we did not find any such case," Kafiluddin Bhuiyan, district livestock officer, Gazipur, said. The officials of the livestock office said poultry birds from Jirani of Gazipur were destroyed earlier as it was inside the one kilometre radius of the affected area in Savar where avian influenza virus was detected on March 22.

The Daily Star.net

[Treyfish]

Chickens of six more farms culled
Kazi Zahidul Hasan

Poultry of six more firms in Savar in the neighbourhood of the avian flu hit Biman-owned farm were culled on Sunday to stem the spread of the deadly disease.
Official sources said the bird flu monitoring cell in cooperation with the joint forces culled all the birds of the six farms located within the radius of one kilometre from the Biman farm, where country’s first case of bird flu was detected just a couple of days back.
Industry people said now there is nothing to worry about as the government and the private sector have taken adequate precautionary measures to check the outbreak of the disease.
“We have got fully prepared to check the outbreak of the disease and with the help of law enforcers a large number of chickens of the affected poultry farms were culled,” said Syed Abu Siddique, Secretary of Bangladesh Poultry Association.
He urged the poultry owners and the people of the country not to get panicked over the disease. He also urged the media to play a constructive role by publishing correct news in this regard.
A monitoring cell has already been formed, with District Livestock Officer Dr Fazlul Haque Khan as its head, to detect bird flu in Dhaka district following the detection of bird flu attack in Savar. The cell will monitor the situation and report every 24 hours to the centre.
The cell asked the Upazila livestock officers to seal off the hatcheries found to be affected by the disease.
Administration officials at a meeting in Dhaka also imposed embargo on taking out poultry 10 kilometres out of a farm.
According to association sources, the size of country’s poultry industry is around Tk 7,000 crore with around 1.30 lakh poultry farms and four lakh employment, directly and indirectly. The farms produce 25.00 crore broilers and 600 crore eggs per year, they said.
There are 5,000 poultry farms and 20 hatcheries in the district. No bird flu attack was detected in the district till Saturday.
Deputy Commissioner Al Nuri Fayezur Reza held a meeting with the owners of poultry farms and hatcheries on Sunday to discuss the issue.
Official sources said Jirani area has been declared an “infected area” for three months under the Bangladesh Animal Diseases Law, 2005.
District Livestock Officer Dr Kafiluddin Bhuiyan received a letter in this regard from the acting DG of Livestock Directorate.
Panicked by the detection of bird flue virus the poultry owners have been rushing to the Livestock hospital in the district to carry out postmortem of their chickens.
Veterinary surgeon Dr Jahirul Islam said postmortem of over 100 chickens of 28 poultry farms was done at the sadar Livestock hospital Saturday, but bird flu was not detected in any of those chickens.
The District Livestock Officer made a requisition to the Civil Surgeon for 2,000 preventive capsules for protecting the officials involved with the detection of the disease and treatment of chickens, but only 100 capsules were given.
Meanwhile, an orientation programme has been taken up to check the spread of bird flu among the human population.
However, the government has decided to compensate the flu affected farm owners.

newstoday-bd.com

[Treyfish]

Export orders cancelled after bird flu detection

Monday March 26 2007 07:08:24 AM BDT


Refayet Ullah Mirdha


Bangladesh has lost its export markets of poultry birds following detection of the bird flu in some farms at Savar off the city recently.The country used to export poultry birds worth more than Tk 200 million (20 crore) a year, (Financial Express)

especially to some countries of Middle East and Nepal.

The Kazi Farms Group, the pioneer in export of poultry birds, has cancelled the order for poultry export worth US$ 4,000 to Nepal recently due to detection of the bird flu, said Director of the group Kazi Zahin while talking to the FE Sunday.

"The consignment of parent stocks was scheduled to head for Nepal soon. But it was stopped after detection of the bird flu virus Thursday last," Zahin added.

The Kazi Farms Group started to export the day-old chicks and hatching poultry birds to Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Yemen and Bahrain two years ago, when those countries stopped import of all kinds of poultry birds from India, Myanmar, Pakistan and some other countries after detection of the virus earlier there.

The Kazi Farms Group was followed by a Chittagong-based poultry farm, which also started to export day-old chicks and hatching birds to those countries, he mentioned.

Bangladesh could have exported poultry birds worth $ 4,000 a week if the country wanted. But the farmers could hardly meet the local demand for poultry birds, he observed.

So the export markets of poultry birds remained limited, although the country had the potential to expand it, he said.

"We are hopeful the country will be avian flu-free soon and the momentum in poultry business will be restored," Zahin said.

In the local markets the prices of poultry birds declined significantly over the last two days due to the avian flu fear.

When asked, Khokan Mia, a wholesale poultry trader at the city's Kaptan Bazar, said a poultry bird was selling at Tk 60-70 per kg compared to the previous rate of Tk 100-110 per kg.

He feared that the prices would decline further, if the people could not be made aware that the viral flu would not cause any harm to the humans if boiled properly.

"I used to sell poultry birds worth Tk 40,000-50,000 daily. But now I cannot sell poultry birds worth even Tk 7,000 as the consumers are not buying them as before following detection of the bird flu," Mia said.

The supply of poultry birds from the countryside declined substantially, as the farmers were worried.

The farmers belonging to the marginal group, who established farms borrowing money from banks, will not be able to repay their loans, he feared.

When asked, secretary general of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA) Syed Abu Siddique said the damage done to the poultry sector by the avian flu threat has not yet been assessed.

"But we (the farmers and businessmen) have been following the instructions given by the government for fighting the flu," he added.

The bird flu might not do a great harm to the local poultry business. Many countries of the world also experienced the threat in recent times and overcame the problem successfully, he mentioned.

Currently, there is a ban on import of poultry birds of all kinds from 56 countries of the world.

Sources in the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry said they have been working on finding out the causes of the sudden death of a good number of poultry birds in two farms in Narayanganj and Jamalpur respectively.

The ministry sources said they have received the inspection reports of 977 farms across the country and did not find any new affected farms until Sunday. Earlier, they identified six bird flu-affected farms in Savar and Gazipur.

The officials of the ministry concerned examined 17,989,22 poultry birds across the country until Sunday and a total of total 39, 264 poultry birds were culled so far.

Only a year ago Rabiya Rahman and her husband Abdur Rahman started their first business venture-a poultry farm at Shardaganj of Savar, according to bdnews24.com.

They put together about Tk 2.0 million (20 lakh) in loans from a bank and relatives and built the farmhouses on their idle land adjacent to their home in Madrasapara.

Business was good, they received orders for chicken from local brokers and their supply was quite satisfactory.

But before they could even repay their first instalment of the bank loan, all hell broke loose on them.

On the night of March 11, some 1,000 chickens in one of the three blocks died within a few hours. The Rahmans struggled to keep the chickens alive, watching the chickens die in dozens.

"It was terrible to see the chickens die. I wondered what had happened. In the evening I had seen the chickens run around and they appeared healthy," Abdur Rahman said.

By noon the day after, chickens in the second block started falling sick and the couple feared a repeat of the horrors of the previous day. They called a local veterinarian but by the time help arrived another 1,500 chickens perished.

By late evening on March 13, the rest of the chickens in the first block also perished.

The Rahmans lost chickens, ready for sale, worth Tk 800 thousand, according to their estimates and they now have no way to get over the losses as the government has ordered a moratorium on all activities in farms affected by avian flu that has also affected five other poultry farms in the neighbourhood.

The avian flu mystery unfolded when Biman Poultry Complex, not very far from the Rahmans' farm, reported sickness of their poultry that led to culling of more than 30,000 chickens.

The affected farms are Bhuiyan Poultry Farm and Happy Poultry Farm in Savar and PSBB Ayesha, Rahman Poultry and Monir Hossain Poultry Farms in Gazipur

bangledesh.web.com

[Treyfish]

Bird flu spreads to new farms 40,000 chickens culled so far
Staff Correspondent

Bird flu has been detected in three poultry farms in Jamalpur district while samples were collected for test from Narayangonj where some 820 chickens were affected.
This was disclosed at a press briefing by Livestock Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman at the secretariat on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the authorities have culled a total of 39,264 hens affected by avian influenza.
Bird flu has been detected in a total of 9 farms. Of them, 4 are in Savar, 2 in Gajipur and 3 in Jamalpur, sources said.

the bangledeshtoday.com

[Treyfish]

Bird flu found in Jamalpur farms 9,000 chickens already sold Staff Correspondent Avian Influenza virus has been detected in three poultry farms in Jamalpur, senior officials of the Department of Livestock Services disclosed yesterday quoting a laboratory report. The director general of the of livestock department yesterday afternoon submitted the report to the fisheries and livestock secretary seeking directives for initiating preventive measures in Jamalpur where the virus had been detected following similar detections in six poultry farms in Savar and Gazipur a few days earlier. "We received the report from Thailand on Saturday and have come to submit it to the ministry," Sunil Chandra Ghosh, director general of the Department of Livestock Services told reporters yesterday in a news briefing arranged by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock in its conference room. Dr Mohammad Abdul Motaleb, director of administration and animal health of the livestock department, said 9,000 chickens of the three Jamalpur poultry farms had been sold already before the lab report came. The senior officials however did not give any detail about the three poultry farms as Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman interrupted them. A minute before, the secretary said, "Samples from Naryanganj and Jamalpur were sent to Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute for tests and results will be known today." Livestock Adviser CS Karim yesterday in an interview with the Bangla Service of BBC Radio said, "At 4:00pm today, we received information regarding apprehension of Bird Flu in Jamalpur. But it has not been confirmed yet." "A team will visit the farms in Jamalpur. The team will confirm us about the apprehension and if the virus is detected there, it will initiate measures for culling," the adviser said. The adviser also said the government will seek cooperation from the international community if the situation spins out of control. A special meeting of the council of advisers to the caretaker government on March 22 disclosed that Avian Influenza virus, popularly known as Bird Flu, had been detected in a poultry farm in Savar on the outskirts of the capital. Since the detection of Bird Flu virus in the state-run Biman Poultry Complex, a huge number of chickens of six poultry farms in Savar and Gazipur have been culled. In the news briefing yesterday, the fisheries and livestock secretary said officials of the livestock department have so far visited 977 poultry farms, which have a total of 17.98 lakh chickens. Till Saturday, a total of 39, 264 Bird Flu affected chickens were culled in six poultry farms in Savar and Gazipur. Also 30,720 eggs have been destroyed in a farm, he said. "Around 100 Bird Flu affected chickens were culled in Gazipur area today," the secretary added. He said all the deputy commissioners informed the ministry that they have launched awareness programmes to prevent panic among the people. About the present situation in Narayanganj, the secretary said the deputy commissioner of the district in a report claimed that 820 chickens died there. "The reasons behind the deaths were not identified," he said. Before the disclosure by the livestock department, the secretary claimed that the situation is under control and the Bird Flu virus was not detected anywhere else in the country other than Savar and Gazipur. The secretary however tried to stop the senior officials of the livestock department from talking about the detection of Avian Influenza in Jamalpur. Our Gazipur correspondent reported that although no farm raised chicken was culled in any poultry farm there, more than a hundred free range chickens were culled in Gazipur yesterday within a kilometre radius of the infected farms. The report added that officials of the livestock department had bought larger free range chickens from their owners for Tk 80, the medium ones for Tk 60 and the small ones for Tk 15 and culled them. They conducted the drive in Kashimpur, Latifpur and Panishail areas of the district. Meanwhile, owners of Bhai Bhai Poultry Farm and Dulal Poultry Farm applied to the district livestock office for compensations. The owner of Bhai Bhai Farm claimed Tk 23,89,000 for his 39,030 chickens while the owner of Dulal claimed Tk 2,52,000 for his 1,874 chickens that had been culled on Saturday. The authorities have formed three Rapid Response Committees led by upazila livestock officers (ULO) which conducted surveys on 90,000 chickens of 38 farms in Gazipur yesterday. The teams tested some chickens on the basis of suspicions of Bird Flu infection but they did not get any sign of Avian Influenza there, the report added. FARDIN FARM No less than 2,100 chickens died between March 12 and March 16 in Fardin Farm in the Basan area under Gazipur upazila headquarters. The owner of the farm claimed a compensation of Tk 3,57,000 but District Livestock Officer Dr Kafiluddin Bhuiyan said no sign of his farm being infected by the virus had been found. Owners of three poultry farms are going to be punished in the district as they hid information of their chickens' deaths. They also hid some chickens in a sugarcane field near the farms. Our Naraynaganj correspondent reported that another farm was found in the district where chickens died due to 'undetected reasons' in Kalyandi village under Bandar police station. Akther Hossain, owner of the farm, informed the district livestock officer that his 250 layer hens died in the last few days. But the district livestock officer said those died due to 'undetected reasons'. The district livestock officer sent samples from that farm to Dhaka for tests of Bird Flu virus. Earlier another farm was found in Narayanganj where around 5,000 chickens had died. Our Khulna correspondent reported that the Bird Flu Control Room in the district has yet to receive any case of flu from any of the 55,000 poultry farms in the district. Quoting the district livestock officer Dr Obaidul Karim told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon that they have taken all sorts of precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak of Bird Flu in the poultry farms. However, panic already gripped the consumers of poultry products in the district. Prices of chickens have already dropped by 25 to 30 percent in the local market within the last 48 hours.

the daily star .net

[Treyfish]

Series of steps ordered to check bird flu spread
Saturday March 24 2007 08:50:04 AM BDT[/font]


Authorities Friday ordered a series of steps including poultry culling and health examination of people at inflicted poultry farms a day after the government announced the detection of bird flu at suburban Savar, report agencies.(News Today)

"By now you are aware of the outbreak of the avian influenza or bird flu at several poultry farms in Savar. The government agencies concerned took urgent steps soon after the detection of flu at the farms," Health Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Dr Motiur Rahman told a press conference also joined by Agriculture and Livestock Adviser Dr CS Karim
and officials concerned.

The agriculture adviser told the newsmen under the urgent steps taken so far over 33,000 poultry were culled and buried in the six inflicted farms, people''s movement were restricted around the poultry ranches and conducting "chemo-profiling" and health examination, and monitoring of those handled inflicted poultry birds.

Dr Motiur, however, said preparations were under way from two years ago to face such situation and the authorities
undertook a series of steps to prevent further proliferation of the flu, which so far attacked 60 countries in Asia and Europe with Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia being the last victims.

Dr Karim said the authorities also ordered stamping out and disinfecting all poultry ranches around one kilometre radius of the afflicted firms, ban on transportation of poultry birds, chickens, eggs and pet birds to anywhere from within 10 kilometre radius in the affected area through virtual fencing and collection of people engaged in the flu inflicted ranches.

He said the joint forces were asked to come in aide of the district administrations to carry out "intensive and constant" monitoring against the avian flu across the country while the agriculture and livestock and the health ministry opened round the clock control rooms to monitor the development.

Following an urgent cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed the authorities last night confirmed the outbreak of the H5N1 subtype of bird flu that so far killed 169 people and attacked 281 others in 60 countries.

World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Dhaka Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol also joined the briefing and said the high population density exposed Bangladesh to intensified avian influenza but through "aggressive actions" involving all stakeholders and massive public awareness could help the South Asian country to overcome the crisis.
"We are very concerned because of the population density of the country," she said but hastened to add that the proliferation of the disease could be prevented through culling with cooperation of poultry farm owners alongside people''s awareness and other "aggressive actions".
Both the health and agriculture advisers urged the people not to get panicked with the outbreak of avian flu as the human infliction of avian influenza were not reported from anywhere in South Asia including India despite the outbreak of the bird flu.
They referred to studies by experts saying that the chickens or eggs of even the flu-inflicted poultry birds were safe after proper cooking provided the people handling them properly clean their hands and bury the poultry remnants underground.
Yet, Dr Motiur said, the Mohakhali Chest Hospital was kept prepared after massive mock exercises to treat possible avian flu patients while a large number of doctors were already trained to detect bird flu patients to be referred to the facility in Dhaka.
The adviser said there would be no dearth of drugs to treat people if required, a notion supported by the WHO representative, but said vaccines needed to save the poultry birds could appear a little expensive.
Dr Karim said currently the poultry industry involves some two billion dollars while the number of poultry birds at farms and households was estimated to be 20 crore and four lakh people were directly dependent on the poultry industry, considered a budding sector with a growth rate of about 60 percent.
Experts said there 15 strains of flu that affect birds, but the one causing the amplifying global scare is the H5N1 subtype, highly lethal to domesticated birds. It has circulated in migrating wild birds for years and has spread to poultry flocks, starting in Southeast Asia, spreading to Russia and other parts of Europe and Asia.
Avian flu was first identified in Italy around a century ago. It was not thought to be transmissible to humans until 1997, when the first human cases were seen in Hong Kong, also involving H5N1.
In the latest outbreak, around 60 people in Asia died, amounting to roughly half the known number of infections, which is a very high fatality rate.
Almost all these casualties were directly exposed to infected fowl, making contact with the virus through the birds'' saliva, nasal secretions and faeces, which become dry, pulverised and are then inhaled. Avian flu is not a food-borne virus, so the risk from eating properly cooked chicken is negligible.
According to the WHO bird flu in humans causes symptoms that are like human flu, such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, conjunctivitis, pneumonia and other severe respiratory diseases.
At present, H5N1 is not easily transmitted from bird to human as a person would have to pick up a lot of virus in order to be infected. Nor is it easily passed from human to human: there have been only three suspected cases, in Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam, where this is believed to have happened.
WHO experts said the big worry, though, is that H5N1 could pick up genes from conventional human flu viruses, making it both highly lethal and highly infectious. Because it would be a radically new pathogen, no one would have any immunity to it.
"In such case the situation would go beyond anybody''s control as it happened in 1919 when the avian influenza pandemic claimed at least 50 million human lives," said the health adviser, himself a doctor and public health specialist.

UNB adds: Some 5,600 chickens of three poultry farms were
culled on Friday in Savar on the outskirts of the capital following
the recent detection of bird flu at a government-owned poultry farm.
Sources said officials of Livestock Department destroyed 2,700
chickens of Friends Poultry Farm while 2,500 of Happy Poultry and 423
of Ainal Haque''s farm, situated one kilometer radius of the Biman
farm where the Avian Influenza virus was detected first.
The chickens were culled by using carbon dioxide gas and then
buried in nearby areas, official sources said.
Meanwhile, the Livestock Department has formed a 20-member Rapid Response Team (RRT), headed by Dhaka District Livestock Officer Munshi M Enamul Haque, to keep vigilance on the poultry farms in the areas.
Livestock Department Director (Admin) Abdul Motaleb, Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Mosaddek Ali, Dhaka District Livestock Officer Munshi M Enamul Haque and Deputy Director of Dhaka District Livestock
Department Dr Fani Bhusan Mondal were present during the culling.
Members of the joint forces also went to the spot and prevented the
people from entering in the affected farm areas.

bangledesh-web.com

[Treyfish]

Khaleda cancels her Independence Day programmes




She cancels a trip to a h5n1 infected area

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was learnt to have cancelled her programme at the National Mausoleum at Savar to pay homage to the martyrs of the liberation war on the Independence Day today (Monday), reports UNB.
She also dropped her programme at slain President Ziaur Rahman''s mazar on the occasion. According to her previous schedule, Khaleda was to visit both the places.
When contacted a senior BNP leader told UNB on condition of anonymity that Begum Zia did not get security clearance from the authorities concerned to visit those places.
BNP senior leaders, however, will place wreaths at the National Mausoleum and offer fateha at Shaheed President Zia''s mazar.

newstoday-bd.com

[Treyfish]

4,000 chickens destroyed at Sharishabari
By UNB, Jamalpur
Mon, 26 Mar 2007, 12:26:00



About 4,000 chickens affected by the bird flu were destroyed under the earth today (Monday).

The affected chickens were buried under the earth in the evening in presence of senior officials of the livestock department.

Officials said 15 poultry farms in Sharishabari upazila were affected the disease. Earlier, 6,000 chickens were destroyed.

Investigation continued to detect the disease in all the poultry farms in Jamalpur district.

nation.ittefaq.com

[Niko]

Bangladesh says no human case of bird flu

March 27, 2007

There has been no human case of bird flu in Bangladesh, the health ministry said on Monday, after an outbreak of the H5N1 virus in nine poultry farms near the capital set off a scare in the densely populated country.

Blood samples of a number of workers at the farms, where the deadly virus was confirmed among chickens last week, tested negative for the deadly virus, Health Secretary Ehsan Ul Fattah told Reuters. The test was carried out at a local laboratory.

Bangladesh has already culled some 50,000 chickens since confirming the outbreak in the farms near the capital Dhaka and northern Jamalpur district.
"There is no human infection of the avian flu," Fattah said.

He said the country had sufficient stocks of flu drug Tamiflu and farm workers as well people living in nearby areas were being monitored closely.

The health ministry urged the media not to create panic after local newspapers and residents reported more chickens had become ill or had died, although not on a large scale.

At least 170 people have died of bird flu in 60 countries, mostly in Asia since 2003, media and other reports said. Health experts fear the virus could trigger a pandemic if it mutates to form a strain that can transmit between humans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070327/...hGBCoBHRSTvyIi

[HenryN]

Bangladesh seeks assistance with bird flu testing

Bangladesh has called for international help to upgrade bird flu testing as the country battles a large outbreak of the disease in poultry.

C.S. Karim, head of the fisheries and livestock ministry, said: "We have invited donor representatives to a meeting today to discuss the situation and formally ask their assistance."

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.

Reuters news agency reports, a veterinary expert saying the virus could be detected two weeks earlier if they had the appropriate technology.

About 55,000 chickens have been culled since the outbreak of avian flu was confirmed in nine farms near the capital Dhaka and northern Jamalpur district last week. No humans have been confirmed to have the virus.

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

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

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/new...s/s1884131.htm

[Treyfish]

People advised to take precautions against 'bird flu'
FE Report
3/28/2007

The government has advised the people to take precautionary measures to avoid being attacked by bird flu virus.
At the regular briefing held Tuesday, the officials of various ministries and departments advised the people to buy healthy and fresh poultry birds and wash their hands with soap after slaughtering those.
In a press statement they asked the people to wash knives and utensils before and after slaughtering the birds and to bury the feathers and other inedible wastes.
The statement also suggested the farmers for wearing masks before entering into their farms, restrain the children from coming into direct contacts with poultry birds, refrain from eating half-boiled eggs and partly cooked meat and to cook meat in high temperature.But, the officials advised in the press statement to eat poultry meat and eggs for nutrition.
Meanwhile, in its regular drive against the bird flu, the field officers of the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry culled a good number of poultry birds in two farms, one in Narayanganj and another in Jamalpur Monday last.
Our Chittagong correspondent adds: No 'bird flu' virus has been detected in Chittagong.
Chittagong District Livestock office and Veterinary specialists sources said, there is nothing to be worried about as 60 degree Celsius temperature is enough to kill the avian virus while normal cooking temperature is 100 degree Celsius.
UNB adds: Bird flu panic spread over the district following death of 500 chickens in two poultry farms at Morelganj upazila from Monday to Saturday.
Local livestock office sources said 442 chickens of a poultry farm of Nasiruddin Molla at West Saralia village died on Monday, while 100 died in another farm of Saydur Rahman at North Putikhali village on Saturday.
The samples of dead chickens were sent to Dhaka central livestock diseases laboratory for testing whether the birds were affected by bird flu.

financialexpress-db.com
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