The Bird flu virus struck again in West Bengal, India and this time, it has affected the birds in 13 villages of Nadia Tehatta. There are around 51,000 hens and ducks gathered within the affected area specifically around a 3 kilometer radius, according to the secretary of the ARD department, Nure Alam Chowdhury, in an interview with the Times of India,

Further surveillance will be done to hopefully assess a 10 kilometer radius area of the affected location. There have already been unnatural deaths reported in a local animal institution. The toll reached 849 deaths in a single day.

The scare started when remains of chicken were spotted flowing down Mathabhanga and Churni rivers, Chowdhury said in a similar statement. He also suspects that migratory birds are behind the outbreak of bird flu.

Samples submitted to the Belgachia laboratory for testing to determine the cause of death of the fowls, confirmed that it is indeed bird flu. Bhopal's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory repeated the tests and the samples still registered positive for the H5 strain of avian influenza.

Last Monday the two institutions that conducted the tests declared that there is indeed an epidemic of bird flu. Culling of the birds was ordered, and a portion of Bangladesh will be part of it since it is within the 3 kilometer radius.

"Twenty teams have been deployed for culling across the five affected panchayat areas" according to the same report. The birds that tested positive for bird flu were buried at Lalbazar -- an isolated area at the border of Bangladesh. Further surveillance is being done to avoid the spread of the disease.