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- By Parinda News Bureau, February 23, 2006, 14:41 IST
The fears have come true: Initial reports have confirmed bird flu in two out of the nine people who were under observation in Navapur in Maharashtra. The individuals are reported to be down with 'mild' infection and the disease is yet to progress into full-blown respiratory failure.
These patients have already been quarantined in isolation ward of the local hospital. This is the first instance of the bird flu jumping from birds to humans. The next possible stage is the jumping of the flu from humans to humans.
The government confirmed that there was a distinct possibility of the avian flu virus having infected some humans in the affected areas. "Some human samples are under various stages of being analysed and we will come to know of it by tomorrow. We do not rule out possibility of humans being affected and it is a distinct possibility," Union Health Secretary P Khota told the media here today. He, however, added that even if the human tests were positive, it would be a "mild episode".
The symptoms of bird flu are similar to that of normal influenza - fever, body ache, bad throat, cough and diarrhea. This, in turn, progressively leads to respiratory failure that can prove fatal.
Realising the lethal nature of the disease, Navapur, the epicentre of the bird flu outbreak in the state, has been sealed off from the rest of the world. All exit and entry points to this town in Nandurbar district, adjoining Gujarat, have been closed.
The number of people admitted in Navapur hospital has risen to 12. They have been under observation ever since they exhibited flu-related symptoms over the past few days, State health director P PDoke told the FPJ.
Close surveillance was being kept on three relatives of Navapur resident, Ganesh Sonar, 27, who had died in a Surat hospital on February 17. Of the total 62,000 residents of Navapur and adjoining 19 villages surveyed so far, 237 people have been found to be suffering from mild fever; the blood samples and throat swabs of 206 people had been sent to Pune's National Institute of Virology for analysis. The results are expected on Thursday, Doke said.
Earlier in the day, the government had ordered two new sophisticated testing procedures to tackle the outbreak. The new tests will shorten the time taken to detect the virus in both human beings and birds. While previous tests took days to confirm the presence of H5N1 virus, the new testing procedures will produce results in a few hours.
Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, culling operations were nearing completion in the 10-km radius around Navapur. "Not a single chicken is left in any of the 49 poultries in the area or outside in the 10-km radius," Director General of Information and Public Relations Bhushan Gagrani told reporters in Mumbai. "Our teams have now begun the work of destroying the litter and excreta of the chicken in the area", Gagrani said. Blood test results of 94 poultry farm workers who came in contact with infected poultry have been already sent for tests.
Animal Husbandry Secretary P M A Hakeem said in Delhi that warming of temperature would help arrest the virus. He said no new poultry cases had been reported and there was no need to panic.
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