Commentary
H5N1
Confirmed in Two More Districts in Assam India
Recombinomics Commentary
21:15
December 10, 2008
The above comments describe the confirmation of H5N1 in four areas in Assam, including two new districts, Chirang and Dibrugarh. Unnatural poultry deaths had been described in Chirang previously, but the deaths in Dibrugarh, which is more than 200 miles from the initial cases, extend the H5N1 infections across the full width of Assam, from Chirang in the west to Dibrugarh in the east (see updated map).
The rapid spread of H5N1 over such a large region, including northeastern and northwestern Assam reduces the likelihood that these outbreaks are linked to the confirmed H5N1 outbreak in Bangladesh. However, the sudden appearance of H5N1 over such an extended area suggests H5N1 has gone undetected in Assam in areas between the two new confirmations, and H5N1 has spread beyond Assam.
Media reports have implicated H5N1 in outbreaks in West Bengal and across the northern region of Bangladesh, but these additional outbreaks have not been confirmed or acknowledged by the regions implicated. Alerts have been sounded by states and countries adjacent to Assam, but only one media report described unnatural poultry deaths in these regions.
However, the spread and confirmations in Assam have been reported almost daily, so the H5N1 is unlikely to be confined by Assam’s borders. Alerts have been issued as far south as Calcutta and wild birds have been cited. Previously, dead wild birds have been associated with outbreaks in India and Bangladesh, but only Bangladesh has confirmed H5N1 in wild birds.
The rapid spread of H5N1 in Assam suggests more confirmations and unnatural bird deaths will continue, and may accelerate as the temperature drops.
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