The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that bird flu was still a potential threat to infect humans in the region and stressed on preventive measures in this regard.

The government has so far distributed nearly Tk 4.70 crore to the poultry farmers all over the country, who have sustained losses due to avian influenza, as part of the compensation for exterminating the contaminated poultry and destroying eggs to prevent the spread of the disease in the country, said ministry sources. Sources in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock confirmed that out of the total amount, about Tk 95 lakh was distributed last year while the rest was distributed in the last two months. The government has raised the amount of compensation for culling poultry and destroying eggs under the

The intensity of bird flu has lessened all over the country with no major outbreak reported during the last one week, officials and poultry industry people claimed.

A country-wide campaign for the registration of poultry farms has been launched with an aim to provide maximum security against birds flu outbreak. Animal Husbandry Commissioner Dr R.H. Usmani said that according to an estimate there were about 25,800 poultry farms producing large scale as well as small scale poultry products like meat, eggs and poultry breeding. He said that the campaign was initiated in all four provinces including AJK which will collect data about the status of all farms existing at district level and he added that work on the project has been initiated from Peshawar. Dr Usmani informed that a number of Rapid Response Teams consisting three doctors with highly trained, fully equipped staffers were also increased from 18 to 23 to control any outbreak of bird flu around the country. He said that these teams will also provide proper education to farmers about safety and security measures including vaccination of birds and adoption of safety measures for workers, working inside the farms. Animal Husbandry Commissioner said this campaign will help the ministry to provide proper compensation to affect farmers registered during current practice. All those farms who failed to register itself during the campaign would not get any compensation in case of any outbreak. Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2008

Death of more than a thousand broiler chicken due to a mysterious disease since the last 15 days at Guijan area, 10 km from Tinsukia district has caused panic in the region. Surprisingly, the district administration is yet to ascertain the cause of the deaths, even as the general people of Guijan have started to panic. Meanwhile, allegations are rife that the broiler chicken traders of Guijan are secretly dumping off the dead chicken into the nearby Dibru river. The people are of the opinion that the chicken traders have not informed them so that they do not stop buying and consuming chicken, without being aware of the disease. The traders are playing with the lives of the people, they alleged.

About 25,369 chickens infected with bird flu were culled and 2,372 eggs were destroyed at eight farms in three districts in the last two days. With the culling, the total number of culled chickens rose to 1084,473 while the number of destroyed eggs stands at 1,458,967 since February 2007. Bird flu control room sources said the number of affected farms will start falling rapidly as temperature begins to rise. At least 11,383 chickens were culled and 2050 eggs were destroyed at National Hatchery Pvt Ltd of Akhter Hossain Babul in Gazipur on Wednesday night, bird flu control room sources said. A total of 9,575 chickens were culled and 200 eggs were destroyed at Aqua Land Agro complex of Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan at Savar after avian influenza virus was detected at the farm. Besides, 776 chickens were also culled at another farm at Ashulia. Meanwhile, 295 bird flu infected chickens were culled and 122 eggs were destroyed at a farm in Natore on Tuesday night. Besides, about 3,340 chickens were culled at four farms in the district.