India's West Bengal Reports Fresh Bird Flu Outbreak
Date: 05-Jan-09
Country: INDIA
Author: Sujoy Dhar
KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Health and veterinary workers culled poultry in a densely populated eastern Indian state on Saturday after a fresh outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, officials said.
The latest outbreak of the virus in poultry is the fourth in the state of West Bengal since 2007.
Bird flu first broke out in India in 2006. Millions of chicken and ducks have been culled since to contain the virus, but it has resurfaced from time to time. India has reported no human infections.
West Bengal officials said they had begun culling about 60,000 poultry after the fourth outbreak was confirmed on Saturday near Siliguri town, bordering Bangladesh.
Culling operations in West Bengal to contain the third outbreak had ended barely a fortnight ago.
(Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee/Tony Austin)
