KOLKATA, Dec 16: Hundreds of veterinary workers in eastern India began killing up to 16,500 chickens and ducks on Tuesday as authorities tried to contain the latest outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

Officials in West Bengal state confirmed the outbreak late on Monday after tests on dead birds. Hundreds of thousands of poultry are already being culled in north-eastern Assam state and neighbouring Meghalaya.

Health workers and bird flu experts are monitoring about 100 villagers in and around Guwahati city in Assam who had shown signs of the virus. Officials said most them had kept poultry in their yards.

There have been no confirmed human cases of H5N1 in India since the first outbreak was reported in the western state of Maharashtra in 2006.

Experts fear the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.

Veterinary workers wearing protective suits began killing and burying chickens and ducks in yards and farms across West Bengal’s Malda district, 350km north of Kolkata, and hoped to be finished by Thursday, state officials said.

“There could be some resistance from the villagers, but we have started an awareness campaign to persuade villagers to hand over poultry,” said N.K. Shit, a senior animal resources development official.

Authorities also imposed a ban on transporting poultry from the affected zones in West Bengal.

“There has been no report of any fresh outbreak from any other adjoining area so far,” said Malda official Sridhar Ghoshhe. At least 3,500 fowl have died in the past week, Malda officials said. In the neighbouring state of Orissa, authorities said they had banned all poultry products from other states.

Hundreds of veterinary officials and policemen were asked to check vehicles coming in from bordering states, said Orissa government official Bishnupada Sethi.

In Guwahati, health workers, bird flu experts and equipment were rushed in when about 100 people began suffering fever and respiratory infections, symptoms of the H5N1 bird flu virus in humans.—Reuters