Avian flu: Govt tells states not to panic

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 27

After confirmed cases of bird flu in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, the Health Ministry today advised states to get people handling ailing wild birds to use protective gear and take anti viral medicine Oseltamivir for ten days as a measure of abundant precaution.

Ruling out human to human transmission from the virus, the ministry quoted the WHO as saying the risk of zoonotic infection (spread from animals to humans) from the current H5N8 virus (bird flu) was low.

“A number of wild birds have died in the National Zoological Park and Deer Park, both in Delhi, and Zoological Park, Gwalior, in the preceding two weeks. Domesticated bird deaths (ducks) were reported this week from Alappuzha in Kerala. In all these instances, samples tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, were found positive for Avian Influenza A H5N8,” the ministry said.

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It added as a matter of abundant caution, state health departments should insist on the use of personal protective equipment by those handling dead and sick birds, keep persons exposed to the dead and sick birds under surveillance and provide them chemoprophylaxis (Oseltamivir 75 mg once daily for 10 days).