Chickens fly out from menus as Leftists gear up to fight bird flu

Bird flu has spread to nine of West Bengal's 19 districts, according to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who blamed the spread on a slow response from the Left government.

Villagers unwilling to part with their poultry and a shortage of staff have slowed down the culling of more than 2 million birds in the state.

"Our workers have been asked to fight the menace, shoulder to shoulder with health workers," said Biman Bose, senior Left leader.

Government says laboratory tests have confirmed the H5N1 flu virus strain in at least two of West Bengal's 19 districts. Experts fear the strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic.

Some form of bird flu has been found in another seven districts. Santanu Bandyopadhyay, India's animal husbandry commissioner, said he would be ‘surprised’ if final laboratory tests showed anything other than the H5N1 strain.

There have been no human infections reported yet in India. The H5N1 strain has killed more than 200 people globally since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the spread of the disease in eastern India was making it harder to control and increased the risk of human infection. About 24 million people live in the seven affected districts.

"However, such spread is not insurmountable," Dr S.J. Habayeb, the WHO's India representative, said in an email on Wednesday.

The WHO has called this India's most serious outbreak.

Central health agencies have also given West Bengal a new target of slaughtering 300,000 birds a day and doubling the rapid-response team of veterinarians to 600 in the state.

PARTY WORKERS CATCH CHICKENS

"The spread of disease would have been contained had the state government informed the Government of India earlier," said Pawar.

"Bird flu has reached India from Bangladesh and we had asked the West Bengal government to be careful. We also came to know that late compensation by the government to poultry owners is also delaying culling operations."

In Bangladesh, the virus has spread to 26 of its 64 districts. The country has struggled to contain the H5N1 outbreak since March.

Hundreds of party workers tried to convince villagers on Wednesday to hand over poultry for culling in remote areas.

Several cadres wrapped plastic packets around their arms and helped catch chickens from backyards and stopped villagers from dumping dead birds in ponds.

"Help from all quarters is welcome at this stage," said Peeyush Pandey, a senior police official.

Authorities are now testing dead bird samples from areas near Kolkata.

Chicken sales dropped drastically in Kolkata and people were taking chicken off marriage ceremony menus.