Bird flu strain in India, Bangladesh similar
27/Aug/2008 Intellasia | Timesofindia
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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The bird flu virus, that caused India's worst Avian Influenza (AI) outbreak this year, has been found to be "a lot similar" to the one that created havoc in Bangladesh.
This has been confirmed by Indian scientists after it studied the genetic make-up of Bangladesh's H5N1 virus strain. India's eastern neighbour, after much persuasion, finally shared the genetic sequencing data of its virus with India earlier this month.
The sequencing was completed in the OIE Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, UK. The H5N1 outbreak, that broke out in West Bengal in January this year, spread to nearly 13 of the state's 19 districts.
A animal husbandry department source told TOI: "Both India and Bangladesh finally exchanged genetic information of its H5N1 strains. We have found that both the strains are related. However, we can't say that Bangladesh was the cause of the outbreak in West Bengal because we don't have documented proof to show that infected poultry was smuggled into India."
He added: "We now know that both the viruses was of clade 2.2 variety which is a sub-lineage of the highly pathogenic Qinghai strain. The strain, however, is different to the one that caused the Manipur and Maharashtra outbreaks."
India was almost certain that the virus came from Bangladesh through illegal poultry trade. Even agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had openly said so. The animal husbandry department then made a formal request to the Bangladesh government through the ministry of external affairs to share the genetic history of its virus.
The H5N1 virus was first detected in Bangladesh in March 2007. Since then, over 47 of the country's 64 districts had been affected by bird flu.
Even though Bangladesh reported a human infection, India was lucky on that count and did not see any humans getting infected. The outbreak in Bengal saw over 42 lakh birds being culled.
Sources said that India had also made a formal complaint to FAO and OIE (World Organisation of Animal Health) about Bangladesh's slack handling to contain the virus, seriously putting at risk India's internal security. A team of the Border Security Force, manning the West Bengal-Bangladesh border, had once reported to the Centre how Bangladeshi citizens were seen dumping dead birds in no-man's land.
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