Outbreak of H5N1 bird flu at poultry farm in Dhaka

More than 700 Sonali breed birds die after highly 
contagious H5N1 virus is discovered at Dhaka farm.

Bangladesh reported an outbreak of the highly
 contagious H5N1 bird flu virus at a poultry farm 
in Dhaka, the World Organisation for Animal Health 
(OIE) said on Monday, citing a report from the  
Bangladeshi agriculture ministry.

Of 3,000 Sonali type poultry at risk from the outbreak, 
732 died from the virus and the rest were slaughtered, according to the report posted by the Paris-based OIE.

The farm was located in Dhamrai, a division of the 
capital city of Dhaka, the report said.

Different strains of bird flu have been spreading across Europe and Asia since late last year, leading to mass 
culling of poultry in certain countries and some human
 deaths in China.

This prompted the World Health Organization to call on
 all countries on Monday to monitor closely outbreaks 
of the deadly virus in birds and poultry and to report 
promptly any human cases that could signal the start
 of a flu pandemic.