Bird flu spreads in India, Bangladesh amid massive slaughter

Bangladesh has slaughtered 50,000 more poultry to combat a severe outbreak of bird flu that continues to spread while neighbouring India has stepped up similar efforts, officials said Monday.

The birds were killed near the capital Dhaka as the deadly H5N1 strain spread to a new district. The virus is now present in 35 of Bangladesh's 64 districts, the livestock department said.

"On Sunday, the flu was detected in 10 new farms, forcing the livestock department to slaughter all the birds in the area," livestock department scientific officer Biddyut Kumar Das said.

Efforts to slaughter birds in the western Kushtia district would continue on Monday, Das said. "The situation is not good. There is no sign of improvement."

The department said nearly 50,000 birds were slaughtered on Sunday in the single biggest cull since the deadly virus was detected on a farm near Dhaka in February last year.

No human infections have been reported in Bangladesh since the latest outbreak began last month, but a health official said nearly 800 farmers had been given anti-viral drugs as a precaution.

The government has also ordered major hospitals to set up isolation units.

"We've also confined several people in their homes," government spokesman Mahmudur Rahman said on Saturday.