# 1767
Seventy days ago, on the 1st of January, Bangladesh was reporting that the H5N1 virus had been detected in only 20 districts. Since then, that number has more than doubled, with 27 new districts added to the list.
Bird flu strikes new Bangladesh district
Sun 9 Mar 2008, 12:50 GMT
DHAKA, March 9 (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to another district in Bangladesh despite massive culling by authorities to control the outbreak, officials said on Sunday, bringing the number of affected districts to 47 out of 64.
The new case of the avian influenza was found in Brahmanbaria, in the east of the capital Dhaka, livestock officials said. They added that the spread of bird flu had slowed in the previously affected areas in recent weeks.
Nearly 1.25 million birds have been culled since the virus was first detected in March 2007, threatening the impoverished country's growing poultry sector.
Industry officials said bird flu had caused losses of about 45 billion taka ($650 million) to the poultry sector, which accounts for 1.6 percent of gross domestic product.
