India fird flu is among deadliest strains
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-19 09:10

Lab tests have confirmed that at least some of the chickens that died of bird flu in western India died of the deadly H5N1 strain, a state minister said Saturday — announcing the country's first case of the disease.

Egyptian Atef Fakhri, left and Abu Samir sit in front of their poultry drinking tea in Cairo, Egypt Friday, Feb. 17, 2006. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in chickens and turkeys in Egypt, a U.N. agency said Friday, prompting an emergency meeting of the Egyptian Cabinet and the broadcast of public health warnings on television. [AP]

At least 30,000 chickens have died in the town of Navapur in the poultry-farming district of Nandurbar over the past two weeks, Anees Ahmed, the Maharashtra state minister for animal husbandry told the Associated Press.

"It is confirmed the deaths were caused by the H5N1strain," Ahmed said. "We're destroying birds in a 3-kilometer (1.5-mile) radius."