I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

According to the Indian National Institute of Virology (NIV), a new strain of H5N1 is responsible for the deaths of more than 500 crows.

The crows died three months ago, and test results have finally come in.  It’s an H5N1 strain never seen in India before, and might have come from Vietnam: “We have compared it to the strains from Vietnam, Indonesia and other places in Asia and found similarities with the Vietnam strain.”-A C Mishra, Director of NIV

The last version of H5N1 that hit India is called Clade 2.2.  This new Vietnam like strain is called Clade 2.3.2.1.  Understanding the versions are important: “Since the strain is a new form of bird flu, we have to be very careful. Once the virus is characterized and gene sequencing done we will be able to gauge the impact on bird health and then label as highly pathogenic or low pathogenic.”-A C Mishra, Director of NIV

In Vietnam H5N1 has already killed one Vietnamese man this year.