The Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) has shared the H5N1 genome sequence data with the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), a public database, on April 21, days after a report was published in The Hindu about NIV not sharing sequence data before paper publication.

The H5N1 sequence data deposited in GISAID was collected from a two-year-old girl from Narasaraopeta in Palnadu district, Andhra Pradesh. The girl was admitted to AIIMS-Mangalagiri on March 4, 2025 and ICMR’s Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) identified the virus as influenza A on March 7. The sample was sent to NIV for Influenza A virus subtyping. NIV identified the virus as N5N1, and the Andhra Pradesh government was informed about the result on March 31.

“Sharing the genome sequence data should happen as soon as they are available, if this information is to be of use,” says Dr. Gautam Menon, Professor of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University.