US provides Bangladesh aid to fight bird flu

Dhaka, Jan 28: The US has donated 10,000 sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to Bangladesh to strengthen avian influenza prevention and control. Each PPE set consists of coveralls, shoe covers, a respirator, goggles, an apron, and inner and outer gloves.

PPEs are critical in protecting government livestock officers and reducing possibilities of contamination as experts cull flocks, collect samples for verification of the H5N1 virus and bury the infected poultry. Prior to the shipment of the PPEs, the US supplied 6,500 PPE kits, 20 decontamination kits, and 4,000 rapid antigen kits to the Bangladesh Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock in preparation for urgent response to avian influenza outbreaks.

The Bangladesh Livestock Department has culled more than 3,00,000 chickens since March last year to stop the spread of bird flu.

UNI