Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The government is going to launch the vaccination program in the poultry sector shortly to check avian influenza or bird flu in Bangladesh, officials said.
The vaccination program will begin experimentally in Gazipur district of Dhaka division, a senior government official said, adding that at first a total of 2,225 farms will be brought under the program in the district.
"If we get a positive result, we will apply the medicine across the country," the official noted.
Nearly 47 percent farms were closed during the last one and a half years due to spread of the avian influenza virus, according to poultry sector leaders.
The number of farms has been reduced to 60,824 from 114,763 during the period, showed a study revealed by Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rakkha Jatiya Parishad.
Poultry farmers repeatedly demanded that the authority allow vaccine against the influenza as it spread out epidemically in the country and destroyed millions of chickens in the last six years.
BBN/SSR/AD-23Aug12-11:10 am (BST)
