India (incl. West Bengal) - Poultry (December 2008 -)

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

India reports another outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal state

1 hour ago
CALCUTTA, India ? The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in samples taken from dead chickens in eastern India, authorities said Monday.
It was the second outbreak of bird flu in India's West Bengal state and came as several thousand birds were being slaughtered in the neighbouring state of Assam.
A local official said authorities in West Bengal would begin slaughtering birds Tuesday.
India has contained several previous outbreaks of the disease, including in West Bengal in January, when some four million birds were slaughtered.
No humans in India are known to have caught the disease, which has killed at least 246 people worldwide according to the World Health Organization.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jESl1A4EnVz3BLb58Z8-Vk7lW77g

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Avian Flu virus found in West Bengal, culling ordered

IANSFirst Published : 15 Dec 2008 11:22:55 PM ISTLast Updated : KOLKATA: Strains of the dreaded avian flu virus have been detected in Malda district of West Bengal, a state minister said Monday.

"Two blood samples of dead poultry were sent to the High Security Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Bhopal. The laboratory conducted tests and has told us that both the samples tested positive for avian flu. They will now conduct other detailed tests," Animal Resources Development (ARD) minister Anisur Rehman told IANS.
The samples were from Narhatta and Satgheria villages under English Bazar police station in Malda district.
"We have already issued the necessary notification and ordered culling of poultry within a radius of three km from the affected district," he said.
The samples were sent to the laboratory after around 5,000 poultry died in Narhatta village during the past one week.
Sale and consumption of poultry products have been banned in the affected area.
Rehman said there was no cause for panic, as the district authorities were taking the necessary steps to curb the problem.
Over 200,000 birds were culled when avian flu was detected in several North Bengal and South Bengal districts in January.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/s...id=XiVR2ymFnaI=

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Avian Flu virus found in West Bengal, culling ordered

IANSFirst Published : 15 Dec 2008 11:22:55 PM ISTLast Updated : KOLKATA: Strains of the dreaded avian flu virus have been detected in Malda district of West Bengal, a state minister said Monday.

"Two blood samples of dead poultry were sent to the High Security Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Bhopal. The laboratory conducted tests and has told us that both the samples tested positive for avian flu. They will now conduct other detailed tests," Animal Resources Development (ARD) minister Anisur Rehman told IANS.
The samples were from Narhatta and Satgheria villages under English Bazar police station in Malda district.
"We have already issued the necessary notification and ordered culling of poultry within a radius of three km from the affected district," he said.
The samples were sent to the laboratory after around 5,000 poultry died in Narhatta village during the past one week.
Sale and consumption of poultry products have been banned in the affected area.
Rehman said there was no cause for panic, as the district authorities were taking the necessary steps to curb the problem.
Over 200,000 birds were culled when avian flu was detected in several North Bengal and South Bengal districts in January.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/s...id=XiVR2ymFnaI=

The two villages above are about a mile apart.

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

After Assam, bird flu in Bengal

After Assam, West Bengal is next to be hit by bird flu. And it has returned after just a gap of six months. While official confirmation is awaited, Animal Resource Development department officials said the H5N1 strain was found in samples of carcasses from Malda district after preliminary tests.
Bird flu was reported in the English Bazaar area of Malda after more than 2,000 poultry birds died in backyard farms. The district administration is set to start culling in English Bazaar and its adjoining blocks from Tuesday, without waiting for official confirmation from the Union Agriculture Ministry. The state government on Monday cancelled all leaves of ARD department officials indefinitely.
The flu first hit Rampurhat in Birbhum in mid-January this year, spreading fast to 14 other districts. After that, the government had decided to conduct an epidemiological surveillance across districts to prevent any further recurrence or outbreak.
Dr JL Chakraborty, former ARD director, said: ?The flu might spread rapidly again in other districts like the previous attack but it is unfortunate there is no epidemiological survey in this regard despite the government's assurance.?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=7623a60d-1a4d-4daa-a3b2-c746ce72ce72&&Headline=After+Assam%2c+bird+flu+in+Bengal

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Bird flu hits West Bengal again
Press Trust of India
Monday, December 15, 2008, (Malda)
After a gap of eight months, bird flu has returned to West Bengal with samples of dead chicken from Malda district testing positive for the disease.
District Magistrate Sreedhar Ghosh told reporters in Malda on Monday that a notification about the disease would be made by the Centre on Tuesday after which culling would begin.
After a large number of chickens died in several villages under Englishbazar block in the district, ARD department collected samples of the dead birds and sent them to the specialised laboratory in Bhopal for testing.
At a meeting held earlier in the day, district authority banned transportation of poultry products outside the three affected villages of Satgheria, Sabjipara and Madhyapara.
The BDO of Englishbazar also banned selling of chicken in the affected areas.
Avian influenza outbreak was reported at Chanchal and Englishbazar in January and March respectively. At that time a total of 1,09,000 birds were culled in these two areas.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080076519&ch=12/16/2008%2012:51:00%20AM

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Malda gripped by bird flu fear
BS Reporter / Kolkata December 16, 2008, 0:38 IST


Following the death of large number of chickens and the fresh bird flu scare in Malda district of West Bengal, the state government has adopted measures to minimize transmission of germs or human infection on this count.

At least 5,000 chickens died in Narhatta village in the English Bazar police station area at Malda in the last week.
Blood samples of the birds had been sent to testing laboratories in Bhopal.
According to sources in the health and family welfare department of West Bengal, the Centre was yet to notify bird flu in the district. Even then, the state government directed district hospitals to prepare isolation wards to handle human cases. Also, the state was in the process of forming rapid response team to contain the disease from spreading, and was reviewing stock of medicine and ventilators.
Officials from the department rushed to Malda and met the district magistrate. Sale and consumption of poultry products was banned in Malda now. The possibility of bird flu in the state emerged after recent confirmation of infection of H5N1 virus among domestic poultry in Kamrup and other districts of Assam, which prohibited sale of poultry and eggs.
According to experts, the bird flu virus multiplied rapidly in winter, and died out in summer. Kajal Durra of Kolkata Egg Merchants' Association claimed sale of eggs in the state had not been impacted because of the bird flu scare. "As eggs in West Bengal mainly come from Andhra Pradesh, where there is no flu scare, sale should not be impacted. We will have to wait and watch the reports from the testing laboratory in Bhopal, before coming into a conclusion," said Dutta. In the English Bazaar block alone more than 20,000 poultry birds died. The rapid spread of Bird flu in early 2008 had almost killed off the poultry trade in the state.

http://business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=343319

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>Lab confirms flu virus in Malda birds
- Culling to begin today, alert sounded in south dinajpur </TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>OUR BUREAU</TD></TR><TR><TD class=story align=left><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=172 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor align=left>Disinfectants being sprayed at a poultry farm in Fulbari near Siliguri on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Dec. 15: The Malda district administration has been told to start culling chickens in Englishbazar block after reports confirmed the presence of the avian flu virus in dead birds, samples of which had been sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal.
The Bengal animal resources development (ARD) department received the reports this evening. The samples had been collected from the Narhatta gram panchayat area of the block yesterday.
The ARD secretary, Dilip Chakrabarty, said culling would be done within 5km radius of Narhatta. ?Instructions are being faxed to the district magistrate,? he said over the phone from Calcutta.
Malda district magistrate Sridhar Ghosh, however, said he was yet to receive the instructions. ?But I have ordered the blockwise formation of culling teams. The ARD experts from veterinary hospital at Belgachhia in Calcutta who came today were also apprehensive about a bird flu attack,? Ghosh said. Seven moujas within the 5-km radius of Narhatta have been alerted.
The authorities of South Dinajpur zilla parishad also sounded a general alert in the district because of the outbreak of flu in Malda.
The karmadhaksha of the animal resources department in the zilla parishad, Nandadulal Ghosh, who reviewed the situation with the officials, said instructions were given to the administration of Hariharpur, Bansihari and Tapan blocks to prevent entry of poultry from Malda either by road or trains. Villagers of the blocks ? the state highway connecting Malda runs over these areas ? were asked to get in touch with the veterinary hospital in case they noticed any abnormality in the birds.
?Till today, we have not received reports of bird deaths in our district. We have started taking precautionary measures in view of the outbreak of the killer disease in Malda,? the karmadhaksha said.
In the Hili check post, disinfectants are being sprayed on trucks coming from Bangladesh.
In January, over 250 chickens had died of the H5N1 virus in state-run farms in Balurghat. Nearly 1.5 lakh birds were culled in adjoining areas.
A controversy has cropped up over the exact number of chickens that had died in Malda district in the past one week. Earlier in the day, the ARD secretary had said 20 chickens had died in Malda because of ?unknown diseases?. The ARD officials, who had visited the Narhatta panchayat area, said 11 chickens died at Satghoria.
But Englishbazar panchayat samiti president Akram Hossain claimed that over 5,000 chickens have died in the past seven days. ?I stick to what I had said yesterday. The reports of deaths are coming from the villages everyday,? Hossain said reacting to the officials? claims. ?Wherever we went, the villagers came out with dead chickens. We also saw birds being dumped in fields and bushes. We have urged the villagers to spray disinfectants to keep away the infectious disease.?
Hossain said there were 73 villages within 3km radius of Narhatta and Kotuali gram panchayats. ?This means there are more than 30,000 chickens, besides duck and pigeons. All of them will be culled,? he added.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081216/jsp/siliguri/story_10258309.jsp

[Shiloh]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/108121...y_10258309.jsp

Lab confirms flu virus in Malda birds
- Culling to begin today, alert sounded in south dinajpur
OUR BUREAU

Dec. 15: The Malda district administration has been told to start culling chickens in Englishbazar block after reports confirmed the presence of the avian flu virus in dead birds, samples of which had been sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal.

The Bengal animal resources development (ARD) department received the reports this evening. The samples had been collected from the Narhatta gram panchayat area of the block yesterday.

The ARD secretary, Dilip Chakrabarty, said culling would be done within 5km radius of Narhatta. ?Instructions are being faxed to the district magistrate,? he said over the phone from Calcutta.

Malda district magistrate Sridhar Ghosh, however, said he was yet to receive the instructions. ?But I have ordered the blockwise formation of culling teams. The ARD experts from veterinary hospital at Belgachhia in Calcutta who came today were also apprehensive about a bird flu attack,? Ghosh said. Seven moujas within the 5-km radius of Narhatta have been alerted.

The authorities of South Dinajpur zilla parishad also sounded a general alert in the district because of the outbreak of flu in Malda.

The karmadhaksha of the animal resources department in the zilla parishad, Nandadulal Ghosh, who reviewed the situation with the officials, said instructions were given to the administration of Hariharpur, Bansihari and Tapan blocks to prevent entry of poultry from Malda either by road or trains. Villagers of the blocks ? the state highway connecting Malda runs over these areas ? were asked to get in touch with the veterinary hospital in case they noticed any abnormality in the birds.

?Till today, we have not received reports of bird deaths in our district. We have started taking precautionary measures in view of the outbreak of the killer disease in Malda,? the karmadhaksha said.

In the Hili check post, disinfectants are being sprayed on trucks coming from Bangladesh.

In January, over 250 chickens had died of the H5N1 virus in state-run farms in Balurghat. Nearly 1.5 lakh birds were culled in adjoining areas.

A controversy has cropped up over the exact number of chickens that had died in Malda district in the past one week. Earlier in the day, the ARD secretary had said 20 chickens had died in Malda because of ?unknown diseases?. The ARD officials, who had visited the Narhatta panchayat area, said 11 chickens died at Satghoria.

But Englishbazar panchayat samiti president Akram Hossain claimed that over 5,000 chickens have died in the past seven days. ?I stick to what I had said yesterday. The reports of deaths are coming from the villages everyday,? Hossain said reacting to the officials? claims. ?Wherever we went, the villagers came out with dead chickens. We also saw birds being dumped in fields and bushes. We have urged the villagers to spray disinfectants to keep away the infectious disease.?

Hossain said there were 73 villages within 3km radius of Narhatta and Kotuali gram panchayats. ?This means there are more than 30,000 chickens, besides duck and pigeons. All of them will be culled,? he added.
Top

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12...Confirmed.html

Commentary

H5N1 Confirmed In Malda West Bengal
Recombinomics Commentary 14:44
December 15, 2008

"The laboratory test in Bhopal has confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus in the dead birds," Sridhar Ghosh, the senior official in West Bengal's Malda district where the outbreak was found, told Reuters.

The confirmation of H5N1 in Malda is not a surprise. Over 5000 chickens and ducks had died suddenly in te past few days and the infections had spread to multiple villages (see satellite map). Moreover, Malda is on the border of Bangladesh and two outbreaks have been confirmed in northern Bangladesh. In addition, multiple outbreaks were confirmed near Dhaka as well as throughout Assam.

However, this is the first time that confirmed H5N1 has been dramatically spreading in Bangladesh and two districts in India. Last season by the time H5N1 was confirmed in Tripura, activity in West Bengal and Bangladesh was significantly reduced.

The confirmation in West Bengal is also early in the season. Temperatures in the area are still in the 80’s. Last season most of they spread was in the cooler months of January and February.

Thus, the confirmation of the H5N1 explosion of cases in Malda is cause for concern, as are the symptomatic patients in Barpeta, Rampur, and Chirang in Assam.


.

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Bird Flu alarm bell rings in Jalpaiguri, S Dinajpur districts
Statesman News Service
JALPAIGURI / BALURGHAT, Dec. 15: The Jalpaiguri district administration today decided to stop importing poultry items from Assam and Bangladesh for the time being in view of the Bird Flu outbreak. In South Dinajpur, the district administration stepped up vigil regarding poultry movement in and out of the district and has also asked the BSF to keep an eye on the Bangladesh border.
The Jalpaiguri district magistrate, Mrs Vandana Yadav said today that the administration has initiated several precautions to avoid the spread of Bird Flu in the district. ?Checks have been put up at Kumargram, Barobisha etc bordering Assam to restrict entry of poultry,? the DM added.
In Balurghat, South Dinajpur district officer Animal Husbandry Department Mr Sreetanu Maitee said that entry of birds from Malda, which has reported presence of the disease and from North Dinajpur is being restricted. ?Moreover, the BSF has been asked to be alert against entry of poultry from across the border and report unnatural bird deaths in the border area,? he added. In Jalpaiguri, the DM informed that a monitoring team and a rapid action team has been set up in every subdivision of the district to restrict the spread of bird flue virus.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235970

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Movement of poultry banned from flu hit villages
Statesman News Service
MALDA, Dec. 15: Apprehending bird flu outbreak in the district, the Malda district magistrate Mr Sridhar Kumar Ghosh today ordered a ban on tranpsorting poultry from the affected villages under Norhatta gram panchayat in English Bazaar block. The panchayat pradhan Mr Bishon Chowdhury, however, said that he was yet to receive the ban order.
The disease has spread to neighbouring villages and to save their chickens, the villagers have allegedly started shifting the birds elsewhere. DM, Mr Sridhar today said that he had received instruction from higher authorities in Kolkata to alert the villages where backyard chickens died from suspected Bird Flu. ?I have ordered a ban on transportation of eggs, chickens and other birds in and out of the affected villages,? he said.
The district animal resources development (ARD) officials including a senior officer (an assistant director) of the ARD department met the district magistrate this morning and informed about suspected Bird Flu out break at Norhatta GP areas. They also urged him to take preparatory measures for culling if reports tested positive. The ARD deputy director Mr N K **** said: ?As a preventive measure, the district magistrate has banned transportation of poultry and eggs in and out of the affected villages.?
The Malda ARD officials had sent three dead birds from the affected villages to the Kolkata regional laboratory and after testing positive for Avian Flu virus it had sent those birds to the HSADL in Bhopal yesterday for confirmation of H5N1 virus.
The CMOH, Malda, Dr Srikanta Roy said that health workers have been asked to conduct an awareness campaign among the villagers to deal with the dead birds. English Bazaar BDO today asked the Norhatta gram panchayat pradhan to conduct health awareness programme among the people.
The pranchayat pradhan today held a meeting with the members and adopted three important resolutions for announcement. The pradhan Mr Chowdhury said: ?We will request people not to eat dead birds, not dump dead birds anywhere and bury the dead birds scientifically,?
According to Mr Chowdhury, about 3500 backyard chickens died in the past seven days. ?Nearly 1,500 birds died at Budhia-Kolka village today. Yesterday, hundreds of birds died at Budhia village. Besides, the epicenter villages such Satgharia and Sabjipara, several fresh birds died at Anandipur and Nagrai villages?, he said.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235971

[Shiloh]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.new...ss=1&id=235971

Movement of poultry banned from flu hit villages

Statesman News Service
MALDA, Dec. 15: Apprehending bird flu outbreak in the district, the Malda district magistrate Mr Sridhar Kumar Ghosh today ordered a ban on tranpsorting poultry from the affected villages under Norhatta gram panchayat in English Bazaar block. The panchayat pradhan Mr Bishon Chowdhury, however, said that he was yet to receive the ban order.
The disease has spread to neighbouring villages and to save their chickens, the villagers have allegedly started shifting the birds elsewhere. DM, Mr Sridhar today said that he had received instruction from higher authorities in Kolkata to alert the villages where backyard chickens died from suspected Bird Flu. ?I have ordered a ban on transportation of eggs, chickens and other birds in and out of the affected villages,? he said.
The district animal resources development (ARD) officials including a senior officer (an assistant director) of the ARD department met the district magistrate this morning and informed about suspected Bird Flu out break at Norhatta GP areas. They also urged him to take preparatory measures for culling if reports tested positive. The ARD deputy director Mr N K **** said: ?As a preventive measure, the district magistrate has banned transportation of poultry and eggs in and out of the affected villages.?
The Malda ARD officials had sent three dead birds from the affected villages to the Kolkata regional laboratory and after testing positive for Avian Flu virus it had sent those birds to the HSADL in Bhopal yesterday for confirmation of H5N1 virus.
The CMOH, Malda, Dr Srikanta Roy said that health workers have been asked to conduct an awareness campaign among the villagers to deal with the dead birds. English Bazaar BDO today asked the Norhatta gram panchayat pradhan to conduct health awareness programme among the people.
The pranchayat pradhan today held a meeting with the members and adopted three important resolutions for announcement. The pradhan Mr Chowdhury said: ?We will request people not to eat dead birds, not dump dead birds anywhere and bury the dead birds scientifically,?
According to Mr Chowdhury, about 3500 backyard chickens died in the past seven days. ?Nearly 1,500 birds died at Budhia-Kolka village today. Yesterday, hundreds of birds died at Budhia village. Besides, the epicenter villages such Satgharia and Sabjipara, several fresh birds died at Anandipur and Nagrai villages?, he said.

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Compensation yet to reach villagers
MALDA, Dec. 15: Compensation of Rs 500 to each family whose backyard poultry were culled in March this year in English Bazaar town, following outbreak of Bird Flu is yet to reach them, the district administrative officials said today.
According to the Chanchal SDO, Ms Debjani Datta, the state had allotted funds to compensate beneficiaries based on the initial list prepared by the block level committee. It was decided that 2,143 families would be entitled for compensation. According to the Chanchal SDO, a total of 13,910 families were identified as Bird Flu victims in this region and the district had sought more funds from the state on 24 October. It may be noted that the then SDO had deleted at least 2,000 beneficiaries from the list to prepare the final list.
Mr P C ****, the additional district magistrate (general) said that the administration has sought all funds to compensate the Bird Flu victims from the government.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=10&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235978

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Bird Flu back in Malda
KOLKATA/MALDA, Dec. 15: Bird Flu has hit the state again. This time, it has come back to Malda. Samples of dead birds collected from Malda sent to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal yesterday have tested H5N1 positive. The Centre today apprised the state animal resources development department (ARD) of the test results this evening.
Mr Sridhar Ghosh, district magistrate, Malda, said: ?We have been told informally that Bird Flu has resurfaced. Culling will be started as soon as we get an official notification.?
But it could well be a case of too little too late as some ARD officials feel that the highly-pathogenic virus may have already spread widely as commercial shipment of poultry birds from the high-mortality areas could not be stopped altogether despite a ban on their transportation imposed last evening.
Mr Bishon Choudhury, the Norhatta gram panchayat pradhan said in Malda: ?Thousands of poultry birds died in Budhia, Budhia-Kola, Satgharia, Anandipur, Madhyapara and Nagrai in the past one week. The district authorities never asked us to stop selling the birds." Mr NK ****, deputy director of ARD, Malda, said: ?It's not possible to enforce the ban if birds are shipped out in the night.? Malda SP Mr Satyajit Bandopadhyay said he would see to it that it did not happen.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=235906

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12...lda_Panic.html

Commentary

H5N1 Poultry Deaths Cause Panic In Malda West Bengal
Recombinomics Commentary 00:51
December 15, 2008

Hasnara Begum, the Narhatta gram panchayat member, said the chicken deaths have created panic among the villagers

Over 5,000 birds died in Satghoria, Budhia, Sabji Para, Sadhya Para and adjoining areas during the past one week

Idani Bibi of Budhia said she had lost 110 chickens last night. ?We have dumped them in a field half-a-kilometre away.? The Narhatta gram panchayat member, who lives in Budhia, said eight chickens died in her house today. ?We suspect that the birds are dying because of flu.

The dead birds are being dumped in an open space and the stench is pervading the air. The dogs and cats are feasting on them. Many fear that the villagers may get affected.

Sit said his department did not have the figures of dead chickens. ?Our team had visited Satghoria to collect blood samples but we are not aware of the deaths in Budhia.?

The above comments describe the explosion of chicken and duck deaths in the English Bazar region of Malda in West Bengal (see update map). Earlier reports described 200-250 deaths in one village and a lack of response from officials. The sudden death and casual discard of the birds created concerns since children were playing with the carcasses which were also being eaten by dogs.

As happened last season, the official response was slow. One media report indicated officials said there were only four deaths in one village and one in another, and officials took three samples for testing. Some reports indicate that blood samples were collected, which generally produce false negatives.

The above comments indicate that the delays have led to an explosion of deaths in multiple villages, yet officials maintained that there will be no culling until H5N1 is confirmed in Calcutta.

In neighboring Assam, outbreaks have been confirmed throughout the Valley, and there is talk of culling all birds in the Brahmaputra Valley, which runs through the entire width of Assam.

Similarly, H5N1 is spreading in Bangladesh, with outbreaks in the north near West Bengal and multiple outbreaks in and around Dhaka, where a child was H5N1 confirmed last season.

In Assam, there are 90 URI cases in Barpeta, 70 hospitalized patients in Rampur, and symptomatic cullers in Chirang, as Assam borrows ventilators.

Moreover, all of this activity is in December, when the daytime temperature is in the 70?s or 80?s.

The accelerating H5N1 spread and associated symptomatic patients increase concerns.


.