More Details On India's Outbreak Of Bird Flu

I just came across some further details on the bird flu outbreak in India, which in my opinion, is being under-reported here in the states.

Villagers in India's West Bengal region are continuing to eat chickens killed by bird flu and there are signs the virus may be spreading among poultry, a minister has said. Animal Resources Minister Anisur Rahaman said the situation in the affected areas was "horrible", and that more suspect cases had been reported on the state's borders with Nepal and Bangladesh.

The ignorance of villagers is one of the main hurdles. According to Rahaman, they are carrying the dead chickens without any protective gear. "Most villagers are not aware of the disease. They are eating the dead chickens. Their children are playing with the infected chickens in the courtyards," he added.

Six districts in West Bengal state have reported outbreaks of avian flu among poultry. Rahaman said there were fears it could be spreading further afield in the eastern state, with suspect poultry spotted in the hill resort of Darjeeling on the border with Nepal, and in several villages in Coochbehar bordering Bangladesh, which is also fighting a bird flu outbreak. People typically catch the disease by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans.

The epicenter of the outbreak is Margram village, 150 miles from the state capital Kolkata. Rahaman said authorities had so far killed 200,000 chickens and ducks, and were planning to cull 500,000 more in the next three to four days. The outbreak is the third in India since 2006 but it has not had any human cases, although it is the worst so far because it is more widespread, according to the World Health Organization. Roughly $US 770,000 has been set aside to compensate poultry owners although farmers are reportedly opposing the slaughter of their birds because they want the cash immediately.

As the spread of bird flu outpaces culling, the deadly virus is taking human lives even indirectly - a chicken seller committed suicide on Sunday by jumping in front of a train. He was driven to desperation by the fall in sale of chickens. In Nadia district, about 100 miles from Kolkata, a wedding was put on hold because the bride's family rears chickens. The parents of the groom chickened out and informed the girl's family about their decision to postpone the wedding after poultry deaths were reported from the area last week. "The groom's family told us to get rid of the birds and stop poultry farming. They said the marriage cannot take place now as the entire block has been infected by the virus," said the girl's mother.