Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) have found a new strain of bird flu that killed over 500 crows three months ago at Jharkhand.
While confirming that it was avian influenza, Dr A C Mishra, the Director of NIV, said that the strain is different from the one that had infected poultry in Maharashtra some years ago. It is for the first time that it has been found in the country, Mishra said. “We have compared it to the strains from Vietnam, Indonesia and other places in Asia and found similarities with the Vietnam strain,” added Mishra.
The NIV had received samples that included four crows from among those that had died in several areas of Jharkhand, including Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Hazaribagh. The process of characterisation of the virus is underway and it is a different strain of the avian influenza virus, NIV scientists said.
The strain belongs to Clade 2.3.2.1 while the H5N1 strain that was reported in the country in 2006 belonged to Clade 2.2. Avian influenza hits mostly birds but its H5N1 strain has killed 234 people since 2003 when it began in Asia, according to the World Health Organisation. In India, bird flu was first reported in 2006 from Nawapur village of Nandurbar district, Maharashtra.
“We cannot say if this strain is the reason for outbreak of bird flu in Orissa,” Mishra said. However, there are no recorded cases of transmission of the virus from birds to humans, Mishra assured. “Since the strain is a new form of bird flu, we have to be very careful,” the NIV director said, adding, “once the virus is characterised and gene sequencing done we will be able to gauge the impact on bird health and then label as highly pathogenic or low pathogenic”.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/-New- ... s-/900479/
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