Bangladesh-Avian influenza breaks out in Gazipur farms Over 4000 poultry birds culled

 Arafat Ara

Department of Livestock Services (DLS) culled more than 4000 poultry birds as the avian influenza has started to inject the local poultry farms in onset of winter, said officials. 

DLS control room said last week it destroyed the chickens at a poultry farm of Kapashia in Gazipur district to stall the spread of bid flu virus.

Bird flu or virus H5N1 usually breaks out in the beginning of winter and summer seasons, said poultry farm owners.

Poultry industry leaders feared if the deadly virus spreads like last year, many of the remaining farms will be out of business in coming days.

Meanwhile, the number of farms has now come down to 60,824 from 114,763 about two years ago following the havoc created by bird flu attack, according to Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rakkha Jatiya Parishad.

Bangladesh Poultry Industries' Association (BPIA) joint secretary general Khandoker Mohsin said bird flu virus has started to spread in the local poultry farms and the authority already destroyed some chickens after detecting the disease. 

He said, "Not only one farm, I heard three big breeder farms also have been infected by the avian influenza virus but these are unreported to the DLS."

Mr Mohsin said the government has planned to start vaccination programme which is the right decision to rescue the poultry sector from being ruined.

"But the vaccine should have been introduced two or three months ago as bird flu virus had already started to infect the poultry farms," said Mr Mohsin.

"The DLS authority assured us they would launch vaccination in August last, but they have not done it," the BPIA Joint Secretary General said.

BPIA Secretary General and Virologist Monjur Murshed Khan said, minimum 21 days is necessary after vaccination for the poultry birds to develop immunity.

"So it would have been good if the authority could have started the vaccination programme two months back," Mr Khan also added.

Recently the Drug Administration authorities have given permission to import bird flu vaccine to start immunisation programme experimentally aiming to prevent the deadly virus from spreading to local poultry farms and the industry eventually.

Musaddique Hossain, Director of DLS said as they got permission to import the medicine it would be possible to begin the vaccination programme shortly.

The vaccination will begin experimentally in Gazipur district and partly in one poultry hatchery and five farms in Kishorganj in Dhaka division, said Mr Hossain also the head of a seven-member expert committee on bird flu vaccination programme.

"If we get a positive result, we will apply the medicine across the country," he added.

Bird flu or H5N1 virus first broke out in the country in 2007 when more than a million chickens were culled and thousands of small farms were closed as the flu ravaged the industry for more than six months. http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/index.php?ref=MjBfMTFfMDRfMTJfMV84OF8xNDg4NjM=