Photo Credit – FAO
# 6120
While its not exactly breaking news that some H5N1 infected poultry have made their way into local food markets, most of the countries where the virus is endemic have taken steps to reduce those risks.
Many nations have introduced poultry vaccination against the bird flu virus (albeit, not always a good thing), and most countries have some form of monetary incentive for farmers to cull their flocks if their poultry become infected.
Today (h/t Cottontop on the Flu Wiki) we’ve a lengthy and scathing report on the proliferation of the H5N1 virus in Bangladeshi poultry, and deficits in their compensation program that are claimed to be responsible for farmers sending infected birds to market.
This via the Financial Express. Follow the link to read it in its entirety.
Bird flu affected chickens being supplied to local markets
Arafat Ara Dhaka, Saturday February 4 2012
Bird flu affected chickens are being supplied to the local markets due to lack of monitoring and proper policy support to the poultry farmers by the authority, said sector insiders.They said the farmers are selling their infected chickens in the markets hiding the information as the government does not compensate the farmers adequately.
While media reports can sometimes slant stories - and part of this story relies on information obtained from unnamed `insiders’ - it is worth noting that the most recent report filed with the OIE on bird flu in Bangladesh ( 15/01/12 Follow-up report No. 37 ) lists 526 outbreaks in that country since 2007.
Map Credit OIE
Hardly a reassuring picture that Bangladesh is anywhere close to getting control over their endemic bird flu situation.
