DHAKA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Bird flu has so far affected more than 326,000 chickens in 29 out of Bangladesh's 64 districts since the first detection of the virus in the country last year, a government official said on Sunday.

    All the affected chickens from 93 poultry farms were culled by the country's Livestock Department, Manik Lal Samaddar, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser of the caretaker government, who is in charge of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, told local reporters.

    He said, chickens in 48 sub-district of 29 districts have been affected since the avian influenza virus was first detected in a poultry farm near capital Dhaka in March last year.

    As the bird flu broke out in neighboring India, the Bangladeshi government has taken steps to combat the spread of avian influenza in the country, he said, adding that the government has already alerted Bangladesh border guards, paramilitary force that all the poultry equipment and eggs could not be allowed to enter the country from India.

    He said that the Livestock Ministry is coordinating with Health Ministry to check spreading of the avian influenza to human body.

    "If people are affected with avian influenza, it would create hindrance to manpower export," he said.

    The livestock department is monitoring the situation at the field level and taking prompt action against the spread of the avian influenza in both government and private poultry farms, he noted.

    Over 100 people were sent to hospital for testing avian influenza but the virus was not detected in their bodies.