# 1457
A week scarcely goes by without a story out of Bangladesh on bird flu. Obviously the virus has gained a strong foothold in that nation.
BANGLADESH: Heightened concerns over bird flu
DHAKA, 11 January 2008 (IRIN) - The recent deaths of a number of exotic birds at Bangladesh’s national zoo in Dhaka have heightened concerns over a potential bird flu outbreak.
Their deaths, now being studied, follow the culling of some 20,000 chickens at the nearby government-owned Central Poultry Farm at Mirpur on 29 December where the deadly H5N1 virus had already been detected.
The farm shares a common boundary wall with the zoo in Dhaka.
Since the virus first appeared in March 2007, the authorities have culled over 322,000 chickens, including some 40,000 backyard fowls, at some 86 poultry farms in 21 out of Bangladesh’s 64 districts. Over 3 million eggs have also been destroyed.
Earlier, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock had confirmed five more instances of avian influenza in the country - three in Gaibandha and one each in Nilphamari and Dinajpur districts.
About 500 fowls at a poultry farm at Phulhat, in Sadar sub-district, Dinajpur District, reportedly died from bird flu 22-25 December.
The latest case of bird flu was reported from a village in Pabna District in the northwest of the country and some 160km from Dhaka, where the authorities culled 6,000 chickens and destroyed 2,500 eggs in the first week of January.
Culling is generally viewed as a first line of defence for containing potential outbreaks of the virus, followed by the mass vaccination of poultry in high risk areas, the World Health Organization (WHO) believes.
No human infections so far
But while there has yet to be a single reported case of human infection anywhere in the country, health experts remain concerned.
Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world, with 975 persons for every square kilometre of land.
This, coupled with particularly hot and humid weather, extreme poverty and a number of traditionally bad health practices, places this river delta nation of over 150 million inhabitants at a higher risk to any contagious disease, including the H5N1 virus.
Dhaka zoo put on alert
Following the death of a rhea and emu bird last week, the zoo authorities have beefed up prevention efforts.
On 10 January, Kazi Fazlul Haq, curator of the zoo, told IRIN bird cages were being disinfected twice daily, as were the entry and exit points of the zoo.
