Nepal’s bird flu outbreak spreads, breeding pandemic mutation fears

Nepal’s bird flu outbreak spreads, breeding pandemic mutation fears Nepal has culled 600,000 birds as H5N1 sweeps Kathmandu, closing the capital’s only zoo and raising fears it could mutate to infect humans The outbreak began in eastern Nepal in March before reaching the densely populated valley around mid-June – a development that health experts say raises the risk of human exposure. More than 60 poultry farms across the Nepalese capital and nearby Kavre district have been affected, with authorities racing to contain what has become the country’s most serious bird flu crisis in years. “It’s mostly spreading inside Kathmandu and few places are remaining to cull the infected birds,” Mukul Upadhyaya, a senior veterinary officer at Nepal’s Department of Livestock Services, told This Week in Asia. “We have identified crows carrying the pathogen to be transmitting the infection from one location to another in and around Kathmandu.” More than three dozen birds and animals have since died, including a leopard, though authorities have yet to disclose a full death toll amid allegations of a cover-up.