African Swine Fever detected in the North West
Zeerust in the North West has reportedly been hit by an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak. It was reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on Wednesday, according to the Department
Avian Flu
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More chickens culled in capital
Culling of about 1.50 lakh chickens at Omega Poultry Farm in the city's Badda area continued for the second consecutive day on Sunday. The avian influenza virus was detected at the poultry farm on Friday and the livestock department started culling the chickens of the farm on Saturday. Dhaka district livestock officer Sheikh Saidur Rahman told New Age on Sunday that they culled 95,048 chickens of the farm till 7:00pm, and would kill 54,000 more chickens.
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Experts suggest ways to minimise avian flu effects on humans
The Influenza Foundation of India (IFI), an advisory body to bring awareness on the disease as also its prevention and control, has issued several recommendations to curb the ill-effects of seasonal influenza, especially during the avian flu outbreak.
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Farms in bird flu peril
The country's poultry industry continues to be in grave peril with sales already halved due to panic among consumers in the wake of recent bird flu outbreaks, operators said. Many restaurants have already taken chicken off their menus while home consumption too has slumped. "We are going broke. We are selling chicks to poultry farmers at a token price to minimise our losses,' said Shah Habibul Haque, director of Aftab Bahumukhi Farm Ltd, a leading poultry hatchery. He claims their business has incurred on average a loss of Tk 2 crore every month since November last year. "Things look even grimmer for small farm owners. They are losing their capital,' he said adding that currently they charge only Tk 7-8 for a day-old chick, about one third of production cost at Tk 22. The avian influenza, which broke out in Bangladesh early last year, has now reached epidemic proportions sweeping across the poultry industry that accounts for over 1.6 percent of GDP. According to official data, the government has detected bird flu virus in 152 farms in 43 districts and culled 6.42 lakh fowls as of February 16. Operators report a loss of nearly Tk 5,000 crore because of plummeting sales coupled with a steady rise in the prices of poultry feeds. "At a rough estimate, we have made a loss of nearly Tk 5,000 crore,' said Moshiur Rahman, convener of Poultry Industries Co-ordination Committee. Industry sources said thousands of farms have been forced to shut down in a year due to bird flu outbreaks and hike in prices of feed ingredients. Around half a crore people are directly or indirectly employed in the industry involving 1.5 lakh farms. "Our sales have dropped drastically,' said Delwar Hossain, owner of Janata Poultry at the Kaptan Bazar, one of the biggest wholesale-cum-retail markets for poultry products in the capital. He said daily sales in his wholesale store hovered around Tk 1.50 lakh in January. "Now I struggle to have sales of Tk 25,000 a day,' he said. Khokon Mia, a retailer at Kaptan Bazar, said the sales at his shop have dropped 58 percent on point to point basis. In retail outlets, chickens sell at Tk 65-70 a kg, whereas only a month ago they would cost Tk 80-85 a kg. "I sold Tk 67,300 worth of poultry on January 16, but in a month, it dropped to Tk 28,000. We are going through a terrible time. People have incredibly cut down on their poultry intake,' said Khokon who also supplies live chickens and eggs to a number of city restaurants. Restaurants and party centres are having their share of troubles with chicken consumption taking a nosedive. "The consumption has fallen by around 50 percent amid bird flu scare,' said Ali Akbar Badal, general manager of XINXIAN, a Chinese restaurant at Kalabagan. Star Kabab's Karwan Bazar branch Manager Mohammad Shahin said their restaurant too has seen a sharp drop in consumption of chickens and eggs. "It's a serious crisis as the plunging demand for poultry pushes the farmers and hatcheries to huge losses,' said head of Brac Poultry MA Saleque, who believes overall consumption has been slashed by half.
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95,000 fowls culled in Badda farm
Livestock officials culled 95,000 chickens at the bird flu-infected poultry farm at city's Uttar Badda as the culling continued for the second consecutive day yesterday. The government, meantime, decided to set up 16 more laboratories in the country next month for testing and identifying bird flu viruses as more and more areas are coming under avian influenza infestation.
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Move for bird flu drug research
The National Institute of Siddha will tie up with six other institutions in an attempt to make drugs to be administered to chicken affected by bird flu, said C. N. Deivanayagam, Chairman, Scientific Advisory Committee of the Institute, recently. Briefing reporters at NIS in Tambaram Sanatorium at the end of a day-long
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5,000 chickens culled in Mansehra
At least 5,000 chickens have been culled at a poultry farm in the Malipur area after a report of the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, confirmed presence of H5N1 virus.The district livestock officer of Mansehra Dr Ali Akber Khan told Dawn that after the confirmation of the H5N1 virus by the NIH laboratory, over 5,000 chickens were culled in the poultry farm. He said that the infected poultry farm had been sealed, while vaccine was being administered in other areas to check the spread of the bird flu virus. Responding to a question, Dr Akber said that fortunately no worker of the said poultry farm had been infected by the virus. Meanwhile, sources in the provincial health department told this correspondent that a team of the World Health Organisation, which was already monitoring the situation in Hazara region, had reached Mansehra to review the situation.
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Humans spared
Human infections of bird flu have been entirely avian in origin and reflect strains circulating locally among poultry and wild birds.
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Culled and cleared
A pull of the neck and then a twist is all that is needed to bring silent death to a hen or a duck. In scientific terms, the bird
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Avian epidemic
It is ironical that bird flu should deal a crippling blow to the West Bengal countryside shortly after the Government of India declared that the country was free from the scourge.