Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

UPDATE 2-Tests prove new bird flu cases in east India state

Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:36pm IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

(Adds details, byline)

By Sujoy Dhar

KOLKATA, India, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Laboratory tests on dead birds have proven a new outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, a state government official said on Monday.

"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, told Reuters.

Ghosh said the virus had been found in three dead birds tested in a laboratory in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

Indian authorities are already culling hundreds of thousands of birds in the northeastern state of Assam, where health authorities are also monitoring about 100 people who had shown signs of the virus.

Those patients in Assam's Guwahati, the main city in the region, were suffering from fever and respiratory infections, symptoms of the H5N1 bird flu virus in humans.

There have been no confirmed human cases of H5N1 among those patients being monitored nor at any other time in India.

But experts fear the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people.  Continued...

India Investment Summit 2009
India Investment Summit 2009

Top executives and bankers discuss their own plans and the broader opportunities and challenges for India during the Reuters India Investment Summit in Mumbai and Bangalore.  Full Coverage | Blog 

Hugh Hefner
PLAYBOY SALE
An icon bows to changing times

With his Playboy Enterprises in talks to be sold for about $300 million, the 83 year-old Hugh Hefner will be giving up control over the iconic adult entertainment empire he founded that was instrumental in shaping society's opinions on nudity, sex and free speech.  Full Article 

A man walks past a bronze statue of a bull outside the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai in this March 25, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe/Files
Bubble trouble?

With India's benchmark stock index, the BSE Sensex, at around 17,000 points, are the Indian equity markets looking at a possible bubble?  Commentary 

Market Update

  • IndiaIndia
  • USUS
  • UKUK
  • Asia
  • Most Actives

SPECIAL REPORT

Himangshu Watts
India's food dilemma

Indian farms are failing to attract capital or talent, either from rich landlords or the students who graduate from agricultural universities.  Full Article | Related Story 

showcase

U.S. Recession
U.S. Recession

A trip through the epicenters of the American recession.  Full Coverage 

 
Central Banks Cautious
Central Banks Cautious

Reuters tracks the policies of the world's top central banks as the debate over global economic recovery rages on.   Full Coverage 

 
T P Raman
Column - RBI leads the world

Reserve Bank of India's approach ring-fenced the banking system.   Full Article 

 
Funding Blues
Funding Blues

A popular tactic used by Indian brokerages to raise money for rich clients is likely to be banned.  Full Article 

 
Not Enough Jobs
Not Enough Jobs

Venture capital creates jobs, but not enough.  Full Article 

 
Column - A Sweet Dream
Column - A Sweet Dream

There are good reasons for Ferrero to consider a combination with Cadbury.  Full Article