India reported Tuesday a fresh outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the Jalgaon district of western Maharashtra state, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). The site of the fresh cases is about 140 kilometres east of Nandurbar in Maharashtra where the first cases in the country were reported last month, federal agriculture ministry official Upma Chaudhry said in New Delhi. "There is no need to panic and no human case has been reported from the country so far," federal health ministry official Vineet Chaudhry was quoted as saying by PTI news agency. Samples from poultry farms in Jalgaon had been sent to a state-run laboratory on February 25. Chickens from one commercial farm in the area had tested positive for the H5N1 virus, Chaudhry said. She said 50 rapid response teams had been sent to the area and it was likely 75,000 chickens would be culled. --SP 22 03 Local Time 19 03 GMT
