New Delhi – Like a series of recent ones cases of bird flu in American livestock and poultry in several states warn of the risks of possible widespread transmission to humansThe second human bird flu infection ever confirmed by the World Health Organization has been reported in India. The UN health agency confirmed that one suspected case, a four-year-old child in the eastern state of West Bengal, was infected with the H9N2 bird flu virus.
The first case of human bird flu in India was confirmed in 2019. The cases in India involve a different bird flu virus than the one that infects animals. multiple people in the US, where the H5N1 strain is spreading through herds.
The four-year-old Indian child was first diagnosed with hyper-reactive respiratory disease but developed fever and abdominal pain in the last week of January this year. A few days later he started having seizures and his breathing problems persisted. The fever worsened, along with the abdominal cramps, and the child was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.
The hospital diagnosed him with post-infectious bronchiolitis, caused by viral pneumonia, and he later tested positive for influenza B and adenovirus, for which he was treated for about a month before being discharged on February 28, the WHO said.
However, his condition did not improve at home and he was admitted to another hospital on March 3. Nasal swabs confirmed a flu infection, which the WHO has now confirmed as influenza A subtype H9N2, the bird flu.
The patient was discharged from the hospital on May 1, with continued oxygen support.
The WHO said the child was exposed to poultry in and around his home, and warned that “further sporadic human cases could occur as this virus is one of the most common avian influenza viruses circulating in poultry in various regions. ”
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The Indian government has formed teams of public health officials to monitor flu symptoms in poultry flocks and raise awareness about the disease’s symptoms and prevention methods.
India has witnessed several outbreaks of bird flu since 2006, when the first case was detected.
The WHO says people can become infected with the virus if they come into direct – and in some cases indirect – contact with infected animals. Symptoms of human infection range from mild, flu-like symptoms and eye irritation to severe, acute respiratory illness and even death, the WHO says.
The UN’s global health agency has urged people to “minimize contact with animals” when infections are suspected, avoid contact with surfaces that appear to be contaminated with animal feces, and “contact with sick or dead strictly avoid animals’ and practice hand hygiene. .
Children, the elderly and pregnant and postpartum women should be extra careful, the WHO says.
