West Bengal communists enlist cadres to battle bird flu

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - The communist government of West Bengal has asked thousands of its cadres to help veterinary staff cull birds to contain an outbreak of bird flu in poultry that officials fear could spiral out of control.

Bird flu has spread to nine of West Bengal's 19 districts, according to Farm Minister Sharad Pawar, who blamed the spread on a slow response from the communist state government.

Villagers unwilling to part with their poultry and a shortage of staff have slowed the culling of more than 2 million birds in the state, which is ruled by the world's longest-serving democratically elected communist government.

"Our workers have been asked to fight the menace, shoulder to shoulder with health workers," said Biman Bose, a senior communist party official.

India's government says laboratory tests have confirmed the H5N1 flu virus strain in at least two of West Bengal's 19 districts. Experts fear the strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic.

Some form of bird flu has been found in another seven districts and more tests were being conducted to determine the exact strain infecting poultry.

Santanu Bandyopadhyay, India's animal husbandry commissioner, said he would be "surprised" if final laboratory tests showed anything other than H5N1.

There have been no human infections reported in India since the virus was first detected in the country in 2006