Suspect H5N1 Near New Dehli India
Recombinomics Commentary 16:28
January 31, 2008
Panic gripped poultry farmers in Haryana's Bhiwani District today due to mysterious death of thousands of chickens.
Poultry owners were scared that the bird flu virus has hit them.
"Thousands of chickens are dying daily. Doctors come, they do check up and then go. They are not telling us the exact reason for the mysterious death," said Krishna, a poultry owner.
After preliminary investigation it was discovered that the infections were respiratory in nature caused due to drastic fall in the temperature in the state.
The above comments suggest H5N1 has caused excessive poultry deaths in northwestern India, near New Delhi and northern Pakistan (see satellite map here and here). The associated video shows hundreds or dead chickens and includes a statement that 4000 – 5000 chickens have died in the past 4-5 days. The birds are kept indoors, so the temperature fall seems to be an unlikely cause of the excessive deaths. Media reports also described comments that e. coli, found in natural flora in the intestines, caused “intestinal” deaths.
Officials in Bhopal have asked for samples, casting further doubt on the preliminary results denying H5N1.
In addition to the confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 in southern Tibet, Bangladesh, and West Bengal this year, northern Pakistan had confirmed H5N1 outbreaks at the end of last year. New reports of excessive poultry deaths across northern India as well as southern Pakistan have increased in recent days, as indicated in the maps linked above,
More information on the samples requested by Bhopal would be useful.
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