Bangladesh is a country with more than its share of woes. Now there is H5N1 galloping through its poultry. Bangladesh needs all the help it can get. Which also means it needs to help others, too. How can a resource poor country like Bangladesh help other nations? They can start by sharing the genetic sequences of the viruses isolated from their poultry:
Bangladesh has refused to share the genetic details of its H5N1 bird flu virus with India. In a blow to India’s efforts to find the origin of the highly pathogenic avian influenza strain that is presently wreaking havoc in West Bengal, Bangladesh has informed the external affairs ministry that they are “yet to genetically sequence the H5N1 virus strain circulating there”.
In a communication to MEA, Bangladesh has said the virus sequencing is still “under way in a lab in UK”, and that it would therefore “not be able to share any virus related information” till the final reports arrive.
However, a senior animal husbandry ministry official told TOI on condition of anonymity: “We know for a fact that Bangladesh completed genetic sequencing of its virus as early as in mid-2007. The OIE Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Weybridge, UK, has completed the sequencing. The lab officials can’t divulge the details till Bangladesh agrees to share the information.” (Times of India)
Of course one can be sure of very little when it comes to India accusing Bangladesh or Pakistan of something or the reverse. Behaving badly is the norm when it comes to neighbors in this part of the world, but I can’t help but surmise India is right. It is not plausible that Bangladesh doesn’t have the genetic sequences. India’s suspicions as to the reason they have not been divulged is probably also correct: they show that the current outbreak in India may be the result of illegal poultry trade in bordering Bangladesh.
I don’t know what the consequences of such a demonstration would be for Bangladesh, but in terms of reputation, failure to share the sequences is sufficiently damaging in itself.
Bangladesh has enough misery imposed on it by forces it can’t control. This is one it can control. Time to behave properly.