Latest bird flu outbreak has usual suspect

“A team from Bangladesh is visiting the district on the issue of land settlement and we will also raise the bird flu outbreak issue with them at the secretary level,” District Magistrate of Nadia,Abhinav Chandra,told The Indian Express over phone.

Sources in the Animal Resource Department has also not ruled out the influx of the virus from Bangladesh as the reason behind the latest outbreak.

Three years ago,bird flu was reported from the same area in Nadia district. Located on the border with Bangladesh,officials said,Tehatta witnesses illegal movement of sugar,salt and cattle to Bangaldesh. Moreover,there has been influx of poultry,particularly during festivals like Id-ul-Fitr when people from the state visit their relatives in Bangladesh and bring back hens and chickens with them.

Officials pointed out that a month ago,several packets of dead chicken were found in Churni rivers that flows between the two countries and very close to the place where bird flu has been reported.