[Rodro]

Bird flue may hit Bangladesh
By UNB, Dhaka
Thu, 11 May 2006, 10:22:00




A recent population-based study by ICDDR,B said that if appropriate measures are not taken in time, Bangladesh could be affected by the new strain if influenza A virus, H5N1, commonly known as ‘bird flu’.

It said that two strains of influenza A virus, H3N2 and H1N1, have already been circulating among children in Bangladesh, which made the probability high of breaking out ‘bird flu’ in Bangladesh.

According to the ICDDR,B study, the two strains of influenza A virus and two of influenza B virus that are circulating in Asia are circulating within Bangladesh.

Between April 2004 and November 2005, ICDDR,B conducted a surveillance on 44,256 children under five of Kamlapur area in the capital city. Of them, 5,129 children were found affected by acute infectious respiratory illness.

The study shows that 14 percent of Bangladeshi children with acute infectious respiratory illness had influenza virus and the incidence of influenza virus infection was 84.5 episodes among every 1000 children in a year.

A 58 percent of isolates were influenza A (H3N2 and H1N1) and 42 percent influenza B (Shanghai and Hongkong) virus, the ICDDR,B surveillance shows.

This suggests that if H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza A, commonly known as bird flu, circulates among poultry in Bangladesh, there is an opportunity of human co-infection with human and avian influenza strains, the study said.

Other strains of influenza may also be causing human disease in Bangladesh.

Since 1996, influenza A (H5N1) has been identified in domestic poultry in 21 countries and in wild birds in 20 countries in the world. Between January 2004 and February 27 this year, 173 human cases have been laboratory confirmed; 93 of them have died.

The study said: “Bangladesh is near several countries that have reported avian influenza. Many residences of Bangladesh have regular contact with live poultry and it also have the highest human population density in the world, except for small city-states.”

“Thus, there is a high risk of new influenza strains emerging from Bangladesh, than from most other countries”, it added.