BANGLADESH

Good news...............................
Bangladesh will share a new strain of bird flu virus, identified as a possible pandemic threat, with US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) to develop 'seed virus,' key ingredient to make a vaccine in emergency.

"We will share the vaccine for scientific use," health secretary Muhammad Humayun Kabir told on Sunday as he confirmed about the sharing of the H9N2 strain of bird flu—A/Bangladesh/0994/2011 (H9N2).

The strain was found in humans in March and recently confirmed by US CDC after its sequencing.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has detected the virus, mild in nature, through its countrywide surveillance.

"But it has the potential to be a pandemic threat," IEDCR director Prof Mahmudur Rahman said, sounding the alarm, as the virus can reassort with H5N1—also 'widespread' in the country—with its changing strains.

"If clades 2.2; 3.2 of H5N1 and new H9N2 mutate, it can be devastating," he said, "but nothing can be predicted about virus."

The United Nations warned Bangladesh on Aug 29 of a possible major resurgence of bird flu as it observed a mutant strain of the H5N1 virus is spreading in Asia and elsewhere.

The IEDCR director suggested maintaining bio-security in poultry farms that livestock officials said cannot be ensured due to 'a large number of backyard poultry in Bangladesh.'

"But we are taking new strategies for backyard poultry," Dr Md Mehedi Hossain, senior scientific officer, Department of Livestock Services (DLS), said on Sunday at a seminar jointly organised by IEDCR and Unicef at IEDCR office.

According to IEDCR, the government would share the virus under standard procedure of virus sharing coordinated by the World Health Organization.

"We will get access to affordable vaccines derived from them and other technical support in exchange (for the new strain of virus)," Prof Rahman said.

"They (US CDC) approached us in the first week of September for government permission to use the virus. They already have the virus with them as we have sent it for confirmation."

He said the virus is also circulating in some countries, but in Bangladesh it is different.

The DLS scientist said they would prepare a guideline for backyard poultry.

"We will sensitise backyard farmers about how to dispose of debris and faeces," Dr Hossain said and added that people litter chickens' giblets and dead chickens just anywhere that can spread the virus.

"Crows eat those carcasses and can get the virus and die. Those dead crows can again pass the virus to poultry birds in the same way," Dr Hossain explained.

The livestock department has culled over 2.4 million chickens across the country after the first outbreak in Mar 22, 2007.

Some 524 outbreaks have been recorded so far.

"We observe that we cannot control the virus until we make people aware, we motivate them," said Dr Musaddique Hossain, a director of the DLS.

The IEDCR advised people consume well-cooked poultry products and maintain personal hygiene - cough into the crook of elbow and wash hands with soap often - to keep bird flu infection away.