Some people may have contracted bird flu
Some people may have contracted bird flu
Some people may have contracted bird flu
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...686,curpg-2.cms
[ Wednesday, February 22, 2006 08:59:33 pmAP ]
NEW DELHI: The Health Secretary, P.K. Hota said Wednesday that "it is a distinct possibility" that some people in the country have contracted bird flu.
He said tests on nine people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms were still being analyzed and that results were expected Thursday.
"We do not rule out the possibility of humans being affected, and it is a distinct possibility," he said.
However, he told reporters that even if the tests are positive, those affected would have only a "mild episode."
Meanwhile, health workers in western India pressed on with a massive slaughter of chickens to halt the spread of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.
More than 700,000 birds have been killed in India's Navapur district since tests of some of 30,000 chickens that died in recent weeks detected the virus. Another 80,000 birds are to be killed before the cull is completed.
The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases of the disease have been linked to contact with infected birds. But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking a possible pandemic.
Authorities have ordered 48 poultry farms around Navapur, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Mumbai, to be emptied and remain shut for three months.
Amid mixed messages from the government, chicken sales dropped across the country. The army, Indian Airlines and Indian railways took chicken an Indian staple and eggs off their menus.
Parliament also stopped serving chicken in its cafeteria, media reports said.
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Bird flu may have spread to humans
Web posted at: 2/23/2006 9:32:51
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Di...February2006&file=World_News2006022393251.xml
New Delhi: The Indian government said yesterday it could ?not rule out the possibility? of avian influenza spreading to human beings in a village in Maharashtra.
?We cannot rule out the possibility of bird flu being transmitted to humans. There is a distinct possibility of such transfusion,? Health Secretary Prasanna Hota told a TV news channel.
Hota was reacting to reports that two people in Maharashtra?s Navapur village, from where India?s first case of bird flue was confirmed on Saturday, were suffering from a
mild case of human avian influenza.
Twelve people, including two children, had been kept in an isolation ward in Navapur?s sub-district hospital after they reported flu-like symptoms. The two people displaying bird flu-like symptoms were part of this group.
Hota said there was a ?protocol? to be followed in such cases and details about the suspected cases would be available only Thursday.
This apart, blood samples had been collected from 104 Navapur residents to ascertain if the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had affected them.
Known to spread to human beings, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has resulted in nearly 100 human casualties across Southeast Asia, mostly in Vietnam. It has so far been reported in seven countries.
Meanwhile, some regional states like Mizoram and Tripura have banned the import of poultry and eggs from other Indian states as well as Bangladesh and Myanmar to prevent the spread of the global disease that is known to spread from birds to humans.
?There is a drop in sales of chicken and eggs in the northeast by about 40 per cent in recent days,? said Pranjit Pratim Koch, technical director of the Northeastern Poultry and Egg Federation.
There has been no reported case of bird flu in the northeast, but the spread of the virus in other states has led to panic in the region. ?People have stopped eating chicken and even eggs and so the demand for fish and mutton has gone up manifold during the past week,? said veterinarian Bhairab Kanta Sharma.
With the demand for fish and mutton on the rise, traders in Assam and other northeastern states have hiked prices of the two commodities.
?Butchers and fish mongers have increased their prices by Rs15 to Rs25 a kg,? Lonkeswar Das, a resident of Assam?s main city of Guwahati, said.
All the seven regional states - Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Tripura - have sounded a maximum alert to prevent the outbreak of bird flu in the region.
?Although there are no reports of any bird flu in our state yet, we have prohibited import of chicken and eggs from other states and even from Myanmar as a precautionary measure,? said C Sangnghina, Mizoram?s animal husbandry and veterinary director.
