Native breeds catch bird fluSurinder Sud / New Delhi March 17, 2006The detection of fresh cases of bird flu in four villages of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra has lent a new dimension to the avian influenza epidemic. This is because the affected birds are of native breeds kept by villagers in their backyards and not of poultry farms, as was the case with the earlier outbreak in the neighbouring Nandurbar district.This has heightened the danger that the flu infection may be present in other areas as well and that more cases may surface in the days to come, poultry experts feel. Official sources also maintain that the H5N1 viral infection could not have been communicated to these birds from Navapur areas where it was successfully contained and controlled. The virus may have spread simultaneously to Navapur and elsewhere.
