Likely H5N1 Spread to Multiple Districts in West Bengal
Recombinomics Commentary 23:30
March 9, 2008
Bird deaths were reported from Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia today, barely 24 hours after fresh cases of bird flu were confirmed in two blocks of Murshidabad.
Nearly 6,000 chickens have died in four villages of Bhatar block in Burdwan since March 1. Over 2,000 poultry birds have perished in Dubrajpur, Birbhum, and Nadia’s Ranaghat.
Poultry owners in Burd-wan accused officials of keep-ing them in the dark about what actually happened to their chickens. “Our chickens are dying almost everyday but no help is coming,” said Joydeb Ghosh of Bamuniya village, who has lost 250 chickens over the past few days.
As many as 1,000 chickens died in Swapan Nohar’s farm in Ratanpur today. “They became drowsy and drooped before dying,” he said.
The above comments describe likely spread of H5N1 I multiple districts in West Bengal. The above locations are close to H5N1 outbreaks in Bangladesh, which are being reported daily (see satelite maps here here here) in addition to the confirmed outbreaks in Murshidabad, where poultry has been dying for the past three weeks.
The dramatic spread of H5N1 in Bangladesh, coupled with earlier widespread outbreaks in West Bengal, strongly suggests that the excessive poultry deaths described above are linked to H5N1.
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