West Bengal govt struggles to control Bird flu

Kolkata, Jan 24: The government is struggling to contain a serious outbreak of bird flu that has spread across almost half of West Bengal. The virus has been detected in 19 districts of the State. As the flu closes in on capital Kolkata, surveillance has been intensified but the Centre has said that the efforts are simply not enough.

Bird flu is now less than 80 kms away from Kolkata. Ten days after bird flu was confirmed in Bengal, the third outbreak in the country since 2006, the disease seems to be spiraling out of control. Over 35,000 chicken deaths were reported from Birbhum and a poultry farm in Bolpur on January 15.

Sources