India - Bird flu strain found in three Chennai poultry workers

Scientists from a partner laboratory of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have found the first signs of an Avian influenza virus in three workers from a poultry farm near Chennai. Only specific protein signatures of the “highly pathogenic” H5N1 strain were spotted at ICMR's influenza referral laboratory in Chennai's King Institute of Preventive Medicine-the disease itself has not been detected. Researchers found the H5N1 signs in samples collected in 2002, which was confirmed by the world's foremost infectious diseases laboratory, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta late last year. But so far, India's health research bureaucracy seems to have underplayed the threat, not even taking steps to research it further. Dr Nirmal K Ganguly, director general of ICMR told this website’s newspaper that he was “not aware of such a finding”, suggesting that if such a high profile exotic virus were to surface in India, his staff would alert him. However, he was “at the moment in total darkness” about the discovery. Dr Jackie Katz of the CDC's Influenza Branch confirmed to this website’s newsapaper that the “three people tested positive for antibody to a highly pathogenic H5N1 virus”. Dr Katz added that “there is no cause for alarm.” Till date, only these protein signatures have been found, and irrefutable evidence that the deadly H5N1 strain is present in humans in India or not, can emerge only when the virus is isolated and sequenced. But virus isolation and sequencing has not been attempted in India, as there is a lack of such a secure bio-safety facility, said Dr A C Mishra, director of the National Institute of Virology, Pune. He added that a high-level meeting is being organised at ICMR soon to take stock of the situation and decide on the steps to be taken. The H5N1 strain normally infects only birds-in poultry it causes epidemics-but it is worrisome because it has been found to jump the species barrier and infect humans, like what happened in Hong Kong in 1997 when six people died and the entire 1.5 million bird poultry stock of the island had to culled. The Avian Influenza Virus has been in the headlines since its outbreak in East Asia earlier last year and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a global alert about this highly contagious bug. The WHO Regional Representative to India, Dr Salim Habayeb expressed complete surprise that he was not informed about this finding by the government even though he gets a weekly report of prevalent communicable animal and human diseases. Expressing concern, Dr. Habayeb said the H5N1 strain is “a very evil virus” as it mutates very fast-a benign non-pathogenic strain could quickly become a deadly virus since this particular family of bugs are known to swap genes at a very rapid pace. But Habayeb says there is no reason to panic as India has adequate mechanisms for control of disease outbreaks, citing the effective handling of the SARS incident. Indian researcher Dr Nalini Ramamurthy, director of The King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Chennai said their group chanced upon these three cases of “sero-positivity” in a poultry farm in Kattangalathur, about 45 km south of Chennai, while routinely monitoring the human population for influenza antibodies. All the three who show positivity have never travelled overseas nor is any poultry imported into India from regions where epidemics have occurred-East Asia-so a native exposure to the virus is the only alternative, she says. Dr Ramamurthy believes that the nearby Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, which is visited by many migratory water birds, could be the source of the infection. But a study urgently needs to be undertaken to see if the sero-prevalence has spread to other farms or not, says Dr Ramamurthy. According to the WHO's standard operating procedures, whenever signatures of such highly pathogenic strain are found, intensive studies of both the bird and humans in the area should be undertaken so the source can be identified. Even Katz suggests that continued testing of humans and poultry needs to undertaken “so that we may better understand the risks of human infection with avian influenza viruses”.