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Rains hamper bid to halt new outbreak of bird flu in India

India's battle against its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu suffered a new blow yesterday as rain forced a halt to culling in West Bengal, an official said.

The virus has already spread to over half the state and the government there has declared the outbreak a crisis, having already admitted it was falling behind in its fight against the H5N1 strain of avian flu.

"Culling has been stopped for the time-being because of the rain -- it will start immediately after the rains cease," state Animal Resources Minister Anisur Rahaman said in Murshidabad, near the border with Bangladesh.

Doctors and veterinarians from neighboring states were arriving in Kolkata to join the culling teams fanning out across the state, the minister said.

But rains, which began early yesterday, had turned many of the rural dirt roads into mud rivers, complicating the battle against the outbreak -- the third and by far the worst to hit India.

Although India has so far not had any human cases of bird flu, Rahaman said he feared the disease would spread to humans with hundreds of people reporting flu symptoms and children "playing with chickens" in the affected villages.

Shops and market stalls that previously were selling chicken were now selling vegetables in affected areas, witnesses said.

Culling teams initially faced resistance from locals but villagers started handing over their poultry on Wednesday after the government began giving out immediate compensation.

But farmers still feared deep financial hardship.

"We have never heard of bird flu, but it has destroyed the economy of the village," said middle-aged poultry farmer Safirul Islam in Margram, 240km northwest of the state capital of Kolkata.

"It's a disaster that has taken away everything from us," he said.

Ten out of West Bengal's 19 districts have been affected by bird flu -- more than half of the state of 80 million people.

"We were not prepared for a such disaster, we're now getting ready to combat the crisis. We've asked human and veterinary doctors in government hospitals to join the culling as well as private doctors," Rahaman said. "We're on a war-footing."

It is from Bangladesh that the bird flu is believed to have come from, and authorities there say it has been erupting sporadically since last February.

"We have targeted the culling of at least 2.2 million chickens," Rahaman said.

"We have now 650 teams involved in the culling operations. We're trying to get more teams to speed up the culling," he said.
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