West Bengal has no case of bird flu, team constituted to monitor situation, says official

West Bengal has no case of the avian influenza A (H9N2) virus – colloquially known as bird flu – and the government has set up a team to evaluate the situation in the state, PTI reported on Wednesday, quoting an unidentified senior official.

Authorities have so far screened around 29,000 birds in the Kaliachak area of Malda district, said the official. A team comprising senior officials of the health department and a couple of representatives of the World Health Organization has been set up to further evaluate the situation.

“The only case was reported in January in Kaliachak in Malda district when a four-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease,” said the official. She is fine now and we are keeping a watch on her health.”

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization confirmed that a case of human infection caused by avian influenza A (H9N2) was detected in a four-year-old child from West Bengal.

In January, the child had shown symptoms of respiratory illness, including high fever and abdominal cramps. After being hospitalised on February 2, the child tested positive for influenza B and adenovirus. After the medical treatment, the child was discharged on February 28.

This marked the second-ever case of human H9N2 infection detected in the country after 2019.

The patient was exposed to poultry at home and no symptoms of respiratory illness had been reported among their family and close contacts, said the World Health Organization, citing information provided to it by the Indian National Focal Point for International Health Regulations on May 22.

The National Focal Point is a body designated by India for correspondence with the World Health Organization for the implementation of the International Health Regulations, 2005. This refers to a legal public health framework that is applicable in 196 member states.