Siliguri, Jan 6 : Poultry business has been hit hard due to bird flu in West Bengal.

The spread of deadly H5N1 avian influenza across the state has led to mass culling of birds. The sale and movement of poultry has been prohibited.

Poultry farm owners said that they would be completely ruined if it continues for a long time.

"The bird flu hits us every year and due to this we are suffering heavy loses. We will be completely ruined if it continues like this," said Som, a farm owner.

"If it continues for a long time how long can we survive even the government is not helping us," said Sanjeev Karmakar, another farm owner

Meanwhile, Health and veterinary workers continued culling of poultry birds.

Officials have been culling birds since Saturday when a fresh outbreak of bird flu was reported in the region bordering Bangladesh.

The epicenter of the flu is Benoy Krishna Pally village in Darjeeling district.

The latest outbreak of the virus in poultry is the fourth in West Bengal since 2007. Bird flu first broke out in India in 2006 and millions of chicken and ducks had been culled to contain the virus.

Although it has resurfaced from time to time, there have been no reports of any human infections in India.

Earlier, hundreds of thousands of birds had been culled in Assam and neighboring Meghalaya after bird flu was detected in November last year.

Experts have warned that the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world. (ANI)