Some of the teams culling birds in India in the bird flu outbreak that I mentioned a couple of days ago are now quitting because of corruption in the villages. They report that local politicians are trying to force them to report ten times as many cullings as are done, so that villages can be paid more compensation by the national government, which the politicians will then pocket.

Some of the teams have also stopped working due to exhaustion.

There are still no reported cases of crossover from birds to humans, which is great news. If this outbreak of bird flu spreads to nearby Calcutta, it seems likely that panic will cause more problems than the bird flu itself.

Via: BBC NEWS | South Asia | Bird flu cull hit by ‘corruption’
[tags]calcutta, india, bird flu, avian flu, h5n1[/tags]

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