DHAKA, April 3 (Reuters) - Bangladesh authorities have culled more than 100,000 chickens at farms over the last one week over suspected bird flu outbreaks, officials said on Thursday, although the disease had begun subsiding across the country. Avian influenza has spread through 47 of Bangladesh's 64 districts and forced the killing of more than 1.61 million birds since detection of the virus in March 2007. Around 2.2 million eggs have also been destroyed. "More than 100,000 chickens and ducks were culled in last one week in dozens of affected firms and in their immediate vicinity," a senior official at the livestock ministry said on Thursday. Industry officials said bird flu has caused losses of about 45 billion taka ($650 million) to the poultry sector, which accounts for 1.6 percent of the poor nation's gross domestic product. About 60 percent of the country's more than 150,000 poultry farms have been closed, making more than 1.5 million people jobless. Chicken prices in the capital Dhaka have jumped nearly 70 percent in the past week, selling at 150 taka ($2.2) per kg, while the price of eggs has risen over 25 percent. "Now prices of egg and chicken, which are the cheapest source of animal protein, have gone up when prices of rice, flour, pluses and edible oil continue to rise alarmingly," said Munira Hossain, a school teacher. No human bird flu cases have been reported in Bangladesh, a densely populated nation where poultry is commonly kept by households. Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic, especially in countries such as Bangladesh where people live in close proximity to backyard poultry. The virus has killed 238 people worldwide since 2003. (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Dr. Nguyen Tuyet Nga (L), head of the high tech division of the Vietnam's Vaccine and Biological Production No. 1 company vaccinates a volunteer at a human vaccine trial for bird ...
