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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

India : New bird flu strain killed Jharkhand crows

Article via Indian Express :

" 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."

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