Calcutta Issues H5N1 Alert
Recombinomics Commentary 14:56
January 18, 2008
There was some panic in Kolkata when dead crows and owls were found in the southern and eastern parts of the metropolis. Bhattacharjee however described the situation as normal and said there was no cause for people to be worried.
"There is no report of any outbreak of the disease in poultries in Kolkata. However, an alert has been sounded in the city," he said.
Ten thousand chickens have died in Murshidabad since Tuesday while in Burdwan 2000 chickens perished in the last seven days. In Bankura, 400 sick birds were culled on Thursday.
The above comments describe more bird deaths in districts south of the large confirmed outbreak in Birbhum (see satellite map). Media reports indicate that chickens in Murshidabad have tested H5N1 positive in rapid test. Thus, each district that had wild bird and poultry deaths has tested positive for H5N1. Burdwan and Bankura have not yet tested positive, but are just northwest of Calcutta.
Although large numbers of poultry deaths have not been reported in Calcutta, the dead crows and hawks raise concerns that H5N1 has flown into the city. These arrivals do not have to result in dead poultry initially. Many countries in Europe have reported H5N1 in wild birds prior to detection in domestic poultry.
In Calcutta, although officials are downplaying the deaths of the wild bird, there has been an alert issued. H5N1 has been confirmed in southern Bangladesh, including Jessore, which is adjacent to the West Bengal border, about 75 miles from Calcutta.
Updates on wild bird and dead poultry testing in the southern districts would be useful.
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