Authorities confirmed India's worst outbreak of bird flu was the virulent H5N1 virus strain Tuesday, and announced plans to slaughter 2 million birds in eastern India in a bid to contain the disease. The H5N1 strain has been blamed for the deaths of at least 219 people worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. No human cases have been reported in India, despite two previous outbreaks of the strain among birds. The latest outbreak is centered in the state of West Bengal. Jan. 15 test results determined birds were dying from the H5N1 strain of the virus, the state's animal husbandry minister, Anisur Rahman, said Tuesday. He also said the disease had spread to a seventh district in the state and announced plans to increase the number of birds to be slaughtered from 700,000 to 2 million to stop the virus from spreading further. State workers have already killed about 400,000 birds, Rahman was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
