Channel News 23 Jan 08;
MARGRAM, India: India's West Bengal state said Wednesday it was falling behind in its attempts to halt the spread of bird flu among poultry as the virus was confirmed in two new areas.
Despite receiving reinforcements from neighbouring states to help slaughter more than two million birds, at least 1,000 additional veterinarians and doctors are needed to fight the outbreak that began more than a week ago, the state's animal resources minister said.
"We don't have the infrastructure to battle this epidemic. Bird flu is spreading to new areas. Thousands of chickens are dropping dead every day," the minister, Anisur Rahaman, told AFP.
Rahaman said hundreds more culling teams had been sent to 10 districts where bird flu had been confirmed, but not all of them were accompanied by medical staff.
"We have asked neighbouring states to send at least 1,000 veterinary and human doctors," said Rahaman. "We have urged the federal government to send expert teams and doctors to assess the situation and help the culling teams."
Rahaman also said the earlier target of slaughtering two million birds would now have to be raised but did not say by how much.
"Bird flu has spread to two more districts in West Bengal. It has been confirmed by telephone," said Rahaman. "We have to kill more poultry. The target will be more than two million."
The latest outbreak began in the village of Margram, 240 kilometres (150 miles) from the state capital Kolkata. It is the third and worst to hit India since 2006, which has so far not had any human cases of bird flu.
Rahaman however expressed grave concerns about the possibility of the disease spreading to humans, with hundreds of people reporting flu symptoms although tests conducted so far have proved negative.
"Naked children are playing with chickens in courtyards in the affected villages," he said.
"Chickens are roaming in the kitchen while women are cooking. It is a very worrisome situation."
People typically catch bird flu by coming into direct contact with infected poultry. Experts fear a pandemic if the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu mutates into a form easily transmissible between humans.
An AFP correspondent in the bird flu zone said proper isolation procedures were not being followed, as villagers without protective gear milled about health workers carrying out the culling.
The culling teams have been facing an uphill battle with villagers smuggling birds out of affected areas and selling them in markets.
The outbreak, which has seen some 400,000 birds slaughtered so far, is expected to hit local poultry owners hard.
"Most of my chickens have been culled," said Jayanta Bhattacharya, a poultry owner in Rampurhat town near Margram, whose farm here had 30,000 chickens.
"I have already suffered a loss of 400,000 rupees (10,000 dollars)."
Sri Lanka on Wednesday banned imports of live birds and chickens from India, G. Wijesiri, a senior official with the country's animal health department, told AFP.
Migratory birds have been largely blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003. - AFP/ac
