DHAKA, April 16 (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to two more farms in Bangladesh despite efforts to contain the spread of the disease, fisheries and livestock ministry officials said on Monday. "A farm was found to be infected at western Jessore district while the other was at Savar near Dhaka, where the avian influenza was first detected last month," a ministry spokesman said. Jessore district is adjacent to West Bengal state of India, where bird flu has also been identified. So far 79,000 chickens have been culled on 32 farms in eight districts since the detection of the H5N1 virus on six farms at Savar on March 22. The government said on Sunday it would pay 70 taka ($1.0) in compensation for each chicken culled. Officials said the virus was under control. "Had it not been controlled the virus would have infected all the districts like a wildfire," said Khalilur Rahman Siddiqui, a senior ministry official. 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.
