H5N1 in Orissa India?
Recombinomics Commentary 17:01
January 27, 2008
At least 62 chicken were recently found dead at Managobindapur under Badasahi block. The hybrid variety known as "banaraja" was being reared by a women self help group.
Panda also visited the area and officials accompanying him said the deaths occurred due to severe cold and not bird flu.
Meanwhile, a report from Balasore, also bordering West Bengal said section 144 CrPC had been promulgated in Jaleswar and Bhograi block.
The district collector said though there was no report of bird flu in the district so far, 110 villages in these two blocks were considered vulnerable. Out of these villages, prohibitory orders had been clamped in 72 of them which would remain in force for next two months so that no poultry business could be carried out.
The above comments suggest H5N1 has already spread into Orissa, India (see satellite map here and here). The recent confirmation of H5N1 in southern regions of West Bengal and Bangladesh, including wild birds, suggests H5N1 has spread to the south. Orissa is reinforcing its northern border with West Bengal and Jharkhand, but poultry has been dying in West Bengal for a month and in Bangladesh for a year. Moreover, migratory birds have died recently in Orissa.
Although H5N1 has not been confirmed in Orissa, the actions described above, and the recent confirmed H5N1 nearly, suggests H5N1 has already spread into Orissa.
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