Authorities have begun slaughtering thousands of poultry birds in the Indian state of West Bengal, suspecting an outbreak of bird flu.
Health officials in India have confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Nearly 10,000 poultry birds died in two villages in Birbhum district during the last week.
Nearly 10,000 chickens have been found dead in the area in the past week and a mass cull of poultry is under way.
Preliminary laboratory reports hint at the birds dying of avian influenza, but an official confirmation is awaited.
Tests show the birds are carrying the deadly H5N1 virus which can cause avian influenza in humans, officials say.
The virus can cause illness and death in humans, but scientists say the chances of being infected are very low.
India's huge poultry industry is worth billions of dollars. Three outbreaks of bird flu in India in the past two years have all been brought under control.
The West Bengal government has also banned imports of poultry from Bangladesh into the state's border districts.
"We know of bird flu outbreaks in Bangladesh last year, so we are taking no chances," state animal husbandry minister Anisur Rehman told the BBC.
'Taking no chances'
The government has put together 10 "action teams" and asked them to kill all poultry birds in and around the two villages - Margram 1 and Margram 2- over a five kilometre radius.
"Preliminary findings at the federal labraotry seem to indicate the existence of the deadly H5N1 virus in the samples we sent. So we are not taking any chances," said Abhijit Raychoudhuri, a local government medical officer.
But Mr Raychoudhuri said a final report from the laboratory was awaited for more comprehensive action to start.
"So we have been asked to cull the birds and quarantine the area as a precaution. We found that when the birds died last week, villagers had started feasting on it, which can be dangerous," Mr Raychoudhuri said.
The last outbreak of the disease was in Manipur (Pic: David Mayum)
Federal health secretary Naresh Dayal said a large quantity of preventive Tamiflu drug has been despatched to the state.
"Samples of the dead birds have been sent to the laboratory in [the central Indian city of] Bhopal. The final report has not come yet, but there is an indication that it may be bird flu," Mr Dayal said .
He said the samples have also been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
The districts of Birbhum and South Dinajpur have reported large numbers of poultry deaths with Rampurhat 2 in Birbhum reporting 10,800 dead out of 15,000 affected and South Dinajpur reporting 2,964 birds dead in the last one week.
One state-run poultry farm in South Dinajpur reported 230 deaths out of 247 affected, officials said.
'Ignorance'
Sunil Kumar Bhowmick, Birbhum district's chief medical officer, said an isolation ward has been opened in the Rampurhat hospital in anticipation of patients who may come in.
"Because a lot of villagers cooked the dead birds in the last one week, we are apprehensive," he said.
Villages in West Bengal are used to outbreaks of what is known as the "ranikhet disease" which also kills a lot of poultry.
"So it did not appear to us that this could be bird flu. We have never been given any information by the authorities on bird flu," said Sheikh Qasim , who lost 40 birds in his small poultry farm at Margram.
"Out of ignorance, we had a lot of chicken curry but now we are scared to the bone," said Qasim.
India faced an outbreak of bird flu in the north-eastern state of Manipur last year - and before that in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The disease is said to have entered Manipur from neighbouring Burma.
