DHAKA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- As avian influenza continues to spread almost everyday in Bangladesh, workers of the Livestock Department Saturday started culling more than 100,000 chickens in the capital Dhaka.

    This is the first detection of the avian influenza, known as bird flu, in the capital Dhaka since the virus broke out in an alarming form in March last year.

    Deputy Director of the Livestock Department Salahuddin Khan said they have started culling the chickens after detection of the virus at a farm at Uttara in northern Dhaka.

    He said the exact number of the chickens could be determined after completion of the culling but he said it may be over 100,000.

    Local people said the farm has 165,000 chickens.

    An official at the Bird Flu control room said the virus affected fowls in one more district, raising the total number of the affected districts to 43.

    In the last 48 hours, 13,820 chickens, pigeons and eggs were destroyed at six farms in five districts.

    Since the bird flu broke up in March last year, some 642,679 fowls were culled in the country's 43 out of 64 districts, the control room said.