bengal-health-dept-sends-team-for-bird-flu-scan

West Bengal currently has no bird flu case and the state government has formed a team to evaluate the condition in the state, a senior official had said.

The state has already conducted a screening of around 29,000 birds from Kaliachak in Malda district, he said.

The state is sending a second surveillance team to Malda’s Kalichak following WHO’s confirmation of a human case of bird flu in India, after the H9N2 virus was detected in a four-year-old child. The child, who lives in Australia with his parents, had been to Malda and Kolkata, flying into Bengal from Singapore.

A state health department team will go to Malda’s Kaliachak on Thursday for surveillance after a four-year-old boy was detected with avian influenza A (H9N2) virus infection.

“Initially, a round of surveillance was carried out one month ago in the Kaliachak locality where the child's house is. The child is fine and there is no evidence of further spread of the virus. We checked for influenza-like illness or ILI in the area and there is no surge,” a senior official in the state health department said.

WHO on Tuesday issued an alert citing India’s second notified case of avian influenza A of sub-type H9N2. The first was in 2019.

A team comprising senior officials of the health department and a couple of representatives of the WHO was constituted for another round of evaluation of the situation in the state, he added.

“After that, we screened around 29,000 birds from that area of the district and not a single case was found,” he said.

The team reaching Malda today will file a report after conducting a review of the situation there. Depending on it, the next step will be decided.

The H9N2 bird flu virus is a subtype of the avian influenza virus which spreads through direct contact with infectious animals or indirect interaction with contaminated environments.