Bird flu is continuously spreading to different regions of the country.

Anisur Rehaman, West Bengal's Animal Resources Development (ARD) Minister confirmed a new H5N1 virus outbreak in the Darjeeling region of eastern India.

The bird flu attack in Darjeeling district brings the total number of West Bengal regions that have been hit by the virus in the existing year to 15.

The minister confirmed that the blood samples of dead birds picked up from the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal were infected with the highly pathogenic bird flu virus.

He also said that culling would begin shortly in the region.

West Bengal, which has struggled to control the virus since January, borders Bangladesh, where the virus has been found in poultry in more than half of the country’s 64 regions.

Initially, the disease was noticed in Bangladesh during February last year (2007) near Dhaka. It was almost inactive by late 2007 but made a forceful comeback in January 2008.

Bird flu had broken out in West Bengal in January this year. Avian flu had hit 13 of 19 districts in the state leading to around four million poultry birds being culled.

The state reported two more eruptions in March, which forced officials to cull tens of thousands of chickens.

However, no human cases have been reported in India up till now.

Normally, humans catch bird flu infection by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the H5N1 strain may transform into a form that can be easily transmissible between people and cause a pandemic.

A pandemic could affect up to one-fifth of the global population and according to the World Bank, cost up to two trillion dollars.