Bangladesh culls more bird flu infected chickens

DHAKA, May 13 (Reuters) Bangladesh villagers have culled 15,000 more chickens over the last two days at small farms in the north of the country, officials today said.

The chickens were slaughtered after an outbreak of H5N1 virus was detected at a village near Nilphamari, 400 km (250 miles) northwest of the capital, Dhaka.

With the latest cull, some 157,000 chickens have now been slaughtered and 1.5 million eggs destroyed in 11 districts since the virus was first detected at six farms at Savar near Dhaka on March 22, officials said.

There have been no reported cases of human infection.

Bangladesh has over 125,000 poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and six billion eggs annually.

About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.

REUTERS RJ RK11258