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Possible outbreak of bird flu in India under investigation

Authorities analysed samples from dead chickens yesterday amid fears a bird flu outbreak may have spread in eastern India as locals resisted a massive cull.

The WHO has called the outbreak of avian flu among poultry in the densely populated eastern state of West Bengal the worst the country has faced -- partly because it is more widespread.

West Bengal state chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee called the situation "very serious," while officials reported villagers were throwing chicken carcasses into rivers and ponds, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.

Bird flu has been confirmed in three districts of West Bengal where 85,000 poultry have died from the disease, the federal government said in a statement.

Fresh bird deaths were reported from another three districts and laboratory officials were analysing some of the dead poultry, the statement said.

The outbreak is the third in India, home to 1.1 billion people, since 2006.

"More serious risk factors are associated with this current outbreak than [the two] previously encountered, including that the affected areas are more widespread and because of proximity to extended border areas," the WHO said.

West Bengal borders Bangladesh, which is also fighting a bird flu outbreak.

More than 36,000 chickens had been culled so far in the three affected districts in Marxist-ruled West Bengal, where poverty is rampant.

State officials said chickens were still on sale in the affected areas despite a ban, and New Delhi has called in paramilitary troops to prevent birds being smuggled out.
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