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India recorded its first bird flu death on Tuesday after an 11-year-old boy died in New Delhi from complications caused by an H5N1 bird flu virus, the India time reported Thursday.
Health officials in New Delhi admitted the boy to the state-run Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on July 2 after showing symptoms, including a high fever and rash on his legs. The child died on July 20 after suffering from “multiple organ failure,” according to an Indian government statement.
“Initially, the doctors suspected the Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus], then the flu, ”a doctor from AIIMS New Delhi told Hindustan times anonymously on July 21. “The boy’s samples were sent to [the Indian] National Institute of Virology in Pune for testing. He was discovered to be suffering from bird flu and contact tracing was immediately carried out.
The doctor’s account matches a statement released on Wednesday by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which revealed that India’s National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) “is leading [an] epidemiological investigation involving the [Haryana] Department of Animal Husbandry and Government of Haryana Watch Unit.
The bird flu victim previously resided in Gurugram, a city in the northern Indian state of Haryana, which borders the territory of India’s national capital Delhi in the northwest. Delhi contains the city of New Delhi.
A health worker uses a misting machine as a precaution against bird flu in the Sola region on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on March 5, 2021 (SAM PANTHAKY / AFP via Getty Images)
“Gurugram health officials said that tracing contracts within a radius of 10 km [6 mile] ray has been initiated. Five rapid response teams have so far detected more than 7,500 people in the region, ”according to the Indian Ministry of Health.
The deputy director of the Haryana breeding department, Dr Punita Gahlawat, told the India time Thursday, its epidemiological teams have not yet detected additional cases of avian influenza in humans.
“We do regular and random inspections at poultry farms and send samples for analysis every month,” she said.
The 11-year-old bird flu victim, identified as Sushil Kumar, “lived with her grandmother in Chakkarpur [a village of Gurugram],” the India time reported Thursday.
“His parents, originally from Bihar, have been staying in Gurugram for two months. Sushil’s grandmother’s partner works in a meat store, which is right next to a poultry store. The cattle in this shop came from Rajasthan. The health service suspects the boy of having caught the infection in the store, ”according to the newspaper.
Rajasthan is a state in northern India bordering both Haryana and Delhi to the southwest.
Although it is not known exactly how Kumar contracted bird flu, the Hindustan times Thursday noted that the virus “can be transmitted through contact with feces and secretions from the nose, eyes and mouth of an infected bird.”
Continuing, the newspaper writes:
The infection is not usually spread from human to human because the virus is not well adapted to attach to receptors in human cells. This usually occurs in people who handle dead birds, bird droppings, or infected poultry.
The infection leads to lower respiratory tract pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome in humans. It is difficult for humans to contract the infection, but once infected, bird flu can be extremely fatal.
The death rate from an avian influenza infection “can reach 60 percent”, according to the Hindustan times. “In comparison, the Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] kills less than 3% of the people it infects, according to official data.
“India has experienced more than half a dozen bird flu outbreaks in poultry over the past two decades, all of which have been brought under control with no human cases reported in the country before,” he said. Reuters reported Thursday.
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