Bird flu in Bangladesh strikes panic in neighboring India

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In Bangladesh at least 25000 chickens have been culled within the past week.

One of the newly infected farms in Bangladesh is in the Mirpur area of the capital Dhaka, while six were in Dhaka district, which surrounds the capital more than 10 million people.

The eighth affected farm is in Magura district, 200 km (125 miles) southwest of the capital.

"So far, nearly 132,000 chickens have been culled in 52 farms in 10 districts," a statement from the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry said.

More than 200,000 eggs have also been destroyed in the impoverished nation in the past four days and more than 1.3 million since March 22.

The H5N1 virus was first detected at six farms at Savar near Dhaka on March 22 and the virus has continued to spread across the country.

No case of human contamination has been reported yet.

"We are struggling day and night to contain the disease, but it has continued to spread," a senior ministry official said.

He said efforts by veterinary and health officials had prevented bird flu spreading through all of the country's 64 districts.

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