Rain forces culling halt as India battles worst bird flu outbreak

This could easily go pandemic if they are not careful. Pray they are careful!

Rain forces culling halt as India battles worst bird flu outbreak: "Ten out of West Bengal's 19 districts have been affected by bird flu -- representing more than half of the eastern state of 80 million people.

'We were not prepared for a such disaster, we're now getting ready to combat the crisis. We've asked human and veterinary doctors in government hospitals to join the culling as well as private doctors,' the minister added.

'We're on a war-footing,' he said, speaking from the town near the border with Bangladesh.

It is from Bangladesh that the bird flu is believed to have come from, and authorities there say it has been erupting sporadically since last February.

'We have targeted the culling of at least 2.2 million chickens,' Rahaman said. 'We have now 650 teams involved in the culling operations. We're trying to get more teams to speed up the culling.'

People typically catch bird flu by coming into direct contact with infected poultry. Experts fear a pandemic if the H5N1 strain mutates into a form easily transmissible between humans."