Chickens at a farm owned and run by Biman Bangladesh Airlines began dying last month, prompting authorities to cull all the birds in the farm this month, an official of the country's livestock department told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.

But authorities later got confirmation from at least three local laboratories that it was Exotic Newcastle, a fatal respiratory virus in birds, that caused the deaths of the chickens, the official said without providing further details.

"Initially we could not determine what happened but we didn't take any risk" the official said. "We are now contented that it's not bird flu."

Local news agency bdnews24.com reported that samples of the infected chickens have been sent to a laboratory in Thailand to reconfirm the earlier test results.

"We are convinced by the local laboratory test results. To make the results internationally convincing, we have sent the samples to a foreign laboratory," the agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The agency said the virus has spread to some other private farms in Savar, an industrial zone outside the capital, Dhaka.

Source: ABCmoney.co.uk

Further Information

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