India/Bengal/Tripura Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Government of India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Status Report on Avian Influenza in West Bengal
(As on 23.1.2008)

As per available information, fresh outbreaks have been reported in the districts of Coochbehar and Hooghly [approximately 80 Kms from Kolkatta].

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has taken following actions.

? Seven central rapid response teams of this Ministry are assisting the State health authorities in containment operations in the affected areas.

? Birbhum District:

? The surveillance teams are conducting active surveillance in 0-3 Km area and in 3-10 Km Zone in the blocks of Nalhati II; Nalhati-I, Rampurhut I and II, Myureshwar-I.
? Out of a population of 1,98,085 in 0-3 Kms of the epicenters in these blocks, 1,51,926 have been covered.
? Out of a population of 2,96,895 in 3-10 Kms of the epicenters, 83,964 have been covered.
? A total of 758 persons [516 in 0-3 Km area and 242 in 3-10 km area] with fever/URI have been detected in during surveillance. In the identified hospital 257 cases of fever/URI have reported.
? No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza has been detected.
? A total of 1142 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] have been medically examined/ followed up and 7 have been found unfit. All are under chemoprophylaxis.
? 524 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] are involved in surveillance activities and they are also under cover of Tamiflu.

? South Dinajpur District:

? In 0-3 Km area, a population of 40,292 have been surveyed on 22.1.2008.
? In 3-10 Km area, survey is conducted in phases. They have covered a population of 6,794 on 22.1.2008.
? Culling operations have been completed. A total of 256 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and 187 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 46 hospital staff have been medically examined. The personnel involved in the containment operations and surveillance activities are under the cover of Tamiflu and are under medical supervision.
? No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected.

? Murshidabad District:

? Culling operations are underway.
? Out of a population of 31,225 in 0-3 Km area a population of 22,373 has been surveyed on 22.1.2008 and between 3-10 Km area out of a population of 76,522, a population of 1028 have been covered.
? A total of 481 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and 210 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 136 hospital staff have been medically examined. The personnel involved in the containment operations are under the cover of Tamiflu and are under medical supervision.

? Nadia District:

? Culling operations have started.
? In 0-3 km area, out of a total population of 19,700 the teams have covered 3,006 persons.
? In 3-10 Km area, out of a population of 70,000 the teams have covered 7,221.
? A total of 312 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 113 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 18 hospital staff have also been medically examined. ?
Burdwan District

? Culling operations are going on
? In 0-3 km area, out of a total population of 44,742 the teams have covered 33,807 persons.
? In 3-10 Km area, out of total population of 8,87,233 the teams have covered a population of 24,978.
? A total of 405 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 190 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] have also been medically examined.

? States of Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam that share a common border with West Bengal have been instructed to ban and prevent any entry of poultry or poultry related products from West Bengal into these States. Other States have also been put on alert.

? Special Secretary (Health) along with Addl.DG & Director, NICD and Joint Secretary held a video conference with the State health authorities of Jharkhand as also DM, CMO and Animal Health officers of all ten districts including those sharing border with West Bengal. The situation was reviewed and they had been requested to step up the vigil, check movement of poultry and poultry products and initiate preparedness measures.

? MOHFW has supplied 1,20,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 5000 personal protective equipments, 5000 N-95 masks and 5 ventilators. This is in addition to 10 ventilators and 10 semi automatic analysers supplied earlier. An additional supply of 1,00,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 100 bottles of Tamiflu syrup and 5 ventilators are being airlifted.

? MOHFW has initiated IEC campaign to sensitize the community in the visual and print media. The following activities have been undertaken:

? Pvt. FM Channels- Radio Mirchi, Red FM have been directed for broadcast of spot duration 40 seconds in West Bengal in the slot hired by M/o Health and Family Welfare for broadcast of NRHM. The spots are being broadcast from 16th January, 08
? The spots are also scheduled before and between the National News at 8.00 A.M. and before and between the National News at 8.45 P.M upto 31st January, 2008.
? CSU, AIR, Mumbai being coordinated for broadcast of same spots 5 to 6 times daily in the popular programmes ?Film Music, Rural Programmes, Women?s programmes? in the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Orissa, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh upto 31st January, 2008.
? The spot will be also scheduled from 24th to 31st January, 2008 on FM channels of All India Radio, Delhi (Rainbow and Gold).

? MOHFW has also initiated telecast of campaign of Avian Influenza through Doordarshan Kendras of Patna, Ranchi, Kolkatta and Guwahati.

? The situation is being monitored on a daily basis.

http://mohfw.nic.in/Status%20Report%20on%20Avian%20Influenza%20in%20West%20Bengal-23.1.2008.doc

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

1,000 more vets, docs needed to fight bird flu

24 Jan 2008,


NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Commenting on the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus, a Union health ministry official said on Wednesday, ''The virus has spread all over the state and it is just a matter of time before samples from Kolkata test positive for H5N1.''

West Bengal animal resource minister, Anisur Rehman, who's helping coordinate culling operations, however, put up a brave front.

''The situation is under control,'' he said in Kolkata on Wednesday. But on the ground, that was far from the truth. The reinforced Rapid Action Teams were behind on culling target of 20 lakh.

Only 7 lakh chickens had been killed so far, an official involved in the process said, but sources in Delhi said less than 5 lakh birds were reported to have been culled. Backyard chicken farms were still reporting flu deaths. So far, about 1.6 lakh chicken have died of flu.

Incessant rain in Malda, South Dinajpur, and North Dinajpur districts had impeded culling operations. The danger of health staff contracting the disease loomed again as Sunil Choudhury, a member of a culling team in South Dinajpur, was admitted to hospital with respiratory problems, one of the symptoms of bird flu in humans.

The entire culling team had to be quarantined, adding to the staff shortage that's preventing the state from accelerating culling operations. In Delhi, an animal husbandry official said, ''The High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal has confirmed a positive result for avian influenza (H5) in samples from Dinhata-I block of Coochbehar district, Balagarh block of Hooghly district and Raniganj block of Burdwan district.''

The other districts already infected with H5N1 include Birbhum, South Dinajpur, Bankura, Murshidabad, Malda and Nadia.

India's animal husbandry commissioner, Dr S K Bandhopadhyaya, told TOI, ''It's possible that a simultaneous exposure occurred. But no trend has emerged in the detection of the virus. So we can't be certain that the virus has spread all over the state. We can still contain the virus with effective culling operations.''

But other experts said the virus may be waiting to be discovered inside the City of Joy.

''The samples from Hooghly that tested positive were picked up a few days back. This means, by now, the virus should already have reached Kolkata, through infected birds smuggled into Kolkata's poultry markets or wild birds dropping infected faeces or feathers,'' an expert said.

Adding to woes, is an acute shortage of veterinary doctors. According to Bandhopadhyaya, seven states have already sent in doctors to support culling and containment operations. Despite these reinforcements, at least 1,000 more vets and doctors were needed to fight the outbreak.

Facing criticism over the tardy pace of the culling operation and also inadequate compensation distributed till now, West Bengal on Wednesday started spot payments to mitigate losses of affected rural families. Till Wednesday evening, nearly Rs 8 lakh in compensation had been disbursed, both on the spot or through panchayats.

The big fear in the epidemic that was confirmed on January 15 is human infection. ''What is worrying about the outbreak in West Bengal is that the virus has mostly affected backyard poultry where birds move freely among humans.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/1000_more_vets_docs_needed_to_fight_epidemic/articleshow/2726294.cms

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Government of India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare



Status Report on Avian Influenza in West Bengal

(As on 24.1.2008)



The total number of districts affected remains the same in West Bengal . Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare has taken following actions.



? Seven central rapid response teams of this Ministry are assisting the State health
authorities in containment operations in the affected areas.
? Additional teams are being sent to reinforce the existing central RRTs.



? Birbhum District:



.. The surveillance teams are conducting active surveillance in 0-3 Km area
and in 3-10 Km Zone in the blocks of Nalhati II; Nalhati-I, Rampurhut I
and II, Myureshwar-I.
.. Out of a population of 3,40,021 in 0-3 Kms of the epicenters [covering
127 villages] in these blocks, 2,27,910 have been covered.
.. Out of a population of 5,04,125 in 3-10 Kms of the epicenters, [covering
172 villages] 1,12,377 have been covered.
.. A total of 1400 persons [763 in 0-3 Km area and 637 in 3-10 km area]
with fever/URI have been detected during surveillance. In the identified
hospital 214 cases of fever/URI have reported.
.. No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza has been detected.
.. A total of 1633 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry
workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] have been medically examined/
followed up and 5 have been found unfit. All are under
chemoprophylaxis.
.. 530 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health
workers] are involved in surveillance activities and they are also under
cover of Tamiflu.
.. No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected





? South Dinajpur District:



.. In 0-3 Km area, out of a total population of 1,79,657 the teams have
covered a population of 39,365.
.. In 3-10 Km area, survey is conducted in phases. They have covered a
population of 9,003.
.. One person with URI/fever who handled sick bird is under observation.

.. Culling operations have been completed. A total of 290 animal health
workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers
etc.] and 187 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and
health workers] and 77 hospital staff have been medically examined.

One
animal health worker is also under observation.

The personnel involved in
the containment operations and surveillance activities are under the cover
of Tamiflu and are under medical supervision.
.. No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected.





? Murshidabad District:



.. Culling operations are underway.
.. The total population in 0-10 Km is 4,05,057. Out of this, 41,038 in 0-3 Km
area and 8,296 between 3-10 Km area have been covered.
.. 131 persons with Fever/URI have been found during the survey. 21 persons
with fever/URI with exposure history are also being followed up. They have
no signs of lower respiratory tract infection.
.. 63 persons with fever/URI have reported in the hospital. But none of them
have contact history with infected poultry.
.. A total of 562 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers,
cullers, spraying workers etc.] and 249 Health personnel [medical officers,
health supervisors and health workers] and 147 hospital staff have been
medically examined. The personnel involved in the containment operations
are under the cover of Tamiflu and are under medical supervision.
.. No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected





? Nadia District:



.. Culling operations are underway.
.. In 0-3 km area, out of a total population of 19,700 the teams have covered
11,964 persons.
.. In 3-10 Km area, out of a population of 70,000 the teams have covered
13,791.
.. A total of 166 persons [92 in 0-3 Km area and 74 in 3-10 km area] with
fever/URI have been detected during surveillance. There is no exposure
history.
.. In the hospital 72 persons with fever/URI have reported.
.. A total of 804 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers,
cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 154
Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and
23 hospital staff have also been medically examined.





? Burdwan District



.. Culling operations are going on
.. In 0-3 km area, out of a total population of 1,49,359 the teams have covered
1,01,003 persons.
.. In 3-10 Km area, out of total population of 9,92,292 the teams have covered a
population of 16,859.
.. There had been 40 persons having URI/ Fever with no exposure history





.. 172 URI/fever cases have reported to hospital with no exposure history
.. A total of 550 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers,
cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 190
Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers]
have also been medically examined.

? 10 clinical samples tested at NICD [8 from Birbhum and 2 from Murshidabad]
have been tested negative. Five samples tested by National Institute of Virology,
Pune from the affected area have also been found negative.


? States of Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam that share a common border with West
Bengal have been instructed to ban and prevent any entry of poultry or poultry
related products from West Bengal into these States. Other States have also been
put on alert.



? Special Secretary (Health) along with Addl.DG & Director, NICD and Joint
Secretary held a video conference with the State health authorities of Assam as
also DM, CMO and Animal Health officers of all five districts namely Dubri,
Kokrajhar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Kachar. The situation was reviewed and
they had been requested to step up the vigil, check movement of poultry and
poultry products and initiate preparedness measures.



? MOHFW has supplied 2,20,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 5000 personal protective
equipments, 5000 N-95 masks and 20 ventilators and 150 bottles of Tamiflu
syrup.



? A stock of 10,000 Tamiflu and 500 PPE is being sent to the States of Assam,
Bihar and Jharkhand.



? MOHFW has initiated IEC campaign to sensitize the community through the
visual and print media. This includes broadcast of spots on private and
Government owned FM channels in West Bengal. The spots are also scheduled to
be broadcast 5-6 times before and between popular programmes and the National
News broadcast during morning and late evening hours in the States of Bihar,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan,
Orissa, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland,
Sikkim, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Telecast of campaign
of Avian Influenza through Doordarshan Kendras of Patna, Ranchi, Kolkatta and
Guwahati has been initiated.



? The situation is being monitored on a daily basis.

http://mohfw.nic.in/Status%20Report%20of%20Avian%20influenza%20in%20West%20Bengal-24.1.2008.pdf

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Man under observation

Pranesh Sarkar
KOLKATA, Jan. 25: Amid the bird flu scare in West Bengal, the state health department has kept a youth under observation in Balurghat, South Dinajpur, who has developed symptoms of avian flu after handling sick birds recently.

The youth’s clinical samples have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Disease, New Delhi and National Institute of Virology, Pune for confirmation tests.

This is significant because South Dinajpur is one of the two districts where bird flu cases were confirmed in the state, with Birbhum on 15 January.

This is the first case in the state when the health authorities sent a clinical sample of a human, suspecting he could have fallen victim to the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of virus. So far, no human case of avian flu has been reported in India.

Health officials said the 30-year-old youth was admitted to Balurghat Hospital with high fever and respiratory distress. As the youth hails from the area where the presence of H5N1 virus was confirmed, health officials put him under observation.

Chief Medical Officer (Health), South Dinajpur, Dr Bibhuti Bhusan Mahapatra, said: “Though the patient has a history of asthma, we did not take any chances and sent his clinical samples for a confirmation test.”

But a Union health ministry official said they took up the case because the youth had handled sick birds. The youth fell sick soon after and is recovering today.

Health authorities at Swasthya Bhavan were astonished when they came to know of a two-month-old from Hili in South Dinajpur was admitted to Balurghat Hospital last evening with high fever and respiratory distress.

But the baby’s clinical sample was not sent for H5N1 confirmation test as it was not thought to be necessary.

- snip -

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=187466

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/rssarticleshow/msid-2733048,prtpage-1.cms

<TABLE class=maintable1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="90&#37;" align=center border=0 valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 2px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px" width="100%" colSpan=3><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #000000; PADDING-TOP: 5px; FONT-FAMILY: arial" vAlign=top width=200>Printed from

</TD><TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #666666; FONT-FAMILY: arial" vAlign=bottom align=left colSpan=4>The Times of India -Breaking news, views. reviews, cricket from across India</TD></TR><TR><TD class=contentboxhead4 style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px" colSpan=2></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=column2 vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 13px"></TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%"><ARTTITLE>Supply more Tamiflu, govt tells pharma companies</ARTTITLE>
26 Jan 2008, 0242 hrs IST,Kounteya Sinha,TNN

SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>NEW DELHI: In order to replenish its fast depleting reserve of oseltamavir — the most effective drug to treat H5N1 bird flu virus infection in humans, the Union health ministry has now written to pharmaceutical companies to supply fresh stocks of the drug as fast as possible.

Under India's bird flu preparedness plan, the Union health ministry had decided to stockpile 10 lakh capsules of oseltamivir (best known as Tamiflu) at any given point of time. But at present, the health ministry is left with 7.5 lakh doses of the drug with a shelf life of five years.

Speaking to TOI, Union health secretary Naresh Dayal said, "Before the outbreak in West Bengal, we had 9.7 lakh capsules of Tamiflu stockpiled. The ministry has already sent over two lakh capsules of Tamiflu to West Bengal over the past week."

Saying that the ministry is yet to finalize which company will ultimately supply the drug, Dayal added, "Since we had decided that 10 lakh capsules of bird flu drug for humans had to be in our stockpile at any given time, we have written to Indian generic drug companies and swiss pharma major Roche to get back to us with rate quotations and the time they would take to supply us fresh stocks. Most companies have told us they have bulk amounts of the drug available. Packing and dispatching it would take a week."

According to Dayal, the Indian generic drug companies approached include Hetero drugs, Cipla and Ranbaxy. Speaking to TOI, Cipla joint managing director A Lulla said, "We can immediately supply the ministry 100,000 doses of oseltamavir. The prices too are highly competitive. We have been supplying to several other South East Asian countries."

The WHO meanwhile has also stockpiled Tamiflu and has three million courses. These will be used specifically for rapid containment at the beginning of a pandemic. WHO India representative Salim J Hebayeb had earlier said, "We have already stockpiled three million doses of Tamiflu."


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Snip from the Times of India:




The state had sent 17 human samples for tests which turned out negative, to everyone's relief. "These samples were collected from South Dinajpur, Burdwan and Murshidabad. There are no reports of any human being affected by the virus," said R S Shukla, state Aids project director.

But health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said the government was still worried about possible human infection.

"We are taking every precaution. If the virus strain mutates to affect humans, the pandemic will have a greater impact than any of the three pandemics of the 20th century," Mishra said.

South 24-Parganas chief medical officer, health, Sachchidanand Sarkar said they were keeping a close watch on the health of the locals.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bird_flu_spreads_to_more_districts_in_WB/articleshow/2735921.cms

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

From South Dinajpur District:

Two persons with fever/URI are under observation in the hospital.

Both are afebrile and responding to conservative treatment. One among them is a Animal Health worker.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Government of India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Status Report on Avian Influenza in West Bengal

(27.1.2008)

Number of districts affected by Avian Influenza in poultry remains the same. In the affected 11 districts, 38 blocks covering 2147 villages and four municipalities are involved. Out of these, 818 villages are in 0-3 Km area where a population of 6,79,472 are under daily surveillance.

1263 cases fever/URI have been reported, 11 of which had contact history with poultry.

There are 1329 villages in the surveillance zone of 3-10 kms where a population of 5,26,431 have been surveyed. There had been 944 fever/URI cases of which had exposure history.

The district-wise details on surveillance and health related activities in 0-3 Km area and 3-10 Km area around the epicenters are as under:

&#183; Birbhum District

&#216; The surveillance teams are conducting active surveillance in 0-3 Km area and in 3-10 Km Zone in the affected blocks
&#216; Out of a population of 3,40,021 in 0-3 Kms of the epicenters in these blocks 3,13,024 have been covered on daily basis.
&#216; Out of a population of 5,04,125 in 3-10 Kms of the epicenters 1,19,891 have been covered[Doing in rounds: cumulative total 5,05,915]
&#216; A total of 1511 persons [1000 in 0-3 Km area and 511 in 3-10 km area] with fever/URI have been detected during surveillance. In the identified hospital 162 cases of fever/URI have reported.
&#216; A total of 1663 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] have been medically examined/ followed up and 5 have been found unfit. All are under chemoprophylaxis.
&#216; 785 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] are involved in surveillance activities and they are also under cover of Tamiflu.
&#216; No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected

&#183; South Dinajpur District:

&#216; In 0-3 Km area, out of a total population of 1,79,657 the teams have covered a population of 50,228.
&#216; In 3-10 Km area, survey is conducted in phases. They have covered a population of 25,030.
&#216; There have been 40 fever/URI cases in 0-3 Km and 58 such cases detected in 3-10 Km area. None of them had exposure history.
&#216; Two persons with fever/URI are under observation in the hospital. Both are afebrile and responding to conservative treatment. One among them is a Animal Health worker.
&#216; Surveillance on Animal health workers who were involved in containment operations have been released. 187 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] have been medically examined.
&#216; No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected.

&#183; Murshidabad District:

&#216; A population of 70,528 in 0-3 Km area is under daily surveillance. In 3-10 Km area a population of 45,671 have been covered.
&#216; There had been 68 persons with Fever/URI but only two had exposure history. They are being followed up. They have no signs of lower respiratory tract infection.
&#216; 41 persons with fever/URI have reported in the hospital. But none of them have contact history with infected poultry.
&#216; A total of 2,366 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and 279 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 176 hospital staff have been medically examined. The personnel involved in the containment operations are under the cover of Tamiflu and are under medical supervision.
&#216; No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected

&#183; Nadia District:

&#216; In 0-3 km area the teams have covered a population of 195,531
&#216; In 3-10 Km area the teams have covered a population of 1,91,851
&#216; A total of 734 persons [452 in 0-3 Km area and 282 in 3-10 km area] with fever/URI have been detected during surveillance. There is no exposure history.
&#216; In the hospital 71 persons with fever/URI have reported of which eight are under inpatient observation.
&#216; A total of 1359 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] examined and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 497 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 40 hospital staff have also been medically examined.
&#216; No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected

&#183; Burdwan District

&#216; In 0-3 km area, out of a total population of 1,64,585 the teams have covered 1,42,314 persons.
&#216; In 3-10 Km area, out of total population of 10,28,338 the teams have covered a population of 1,10,022.
&#216; There had been 359 persons having URI/ Fever with no exposure history
&#216; A total of 340 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] are examined and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 672 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] have also been medically examined.
&#216; No suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected

&#183; Bankura District

&#216; Surveillance activity has started in 0-3 Km and 3-10 Km area.
&#216; In 0-3 Km area a population of 9200 has been covered
&#216; In 3-10 km area a population of 10,905 have been covered
&#216; A total of 37 persons have been detected [ 20 in 0-3 km area and 17 in 3-10 km area] with fever/URI with no exposure history.
&#216; A total of 140 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 18 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 15 hospital staff have also been medically examined.
&#216; In the area under surveillance no suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected

&#183; Bankura District

&#216; Surveillance activity has started in 0-3 Km and 3-10 Km area.
&#216; In 0-3 Km area a population of 9200 has been covered
&#216; In 3-10 km area a population of 10,905 have been covered
&#216; A total of 37 persons have been detected [ 20 in 0-3 km area and 17 in 3-10 km area] with fever/URI with no exposure history.
&#216; A total of 140 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 18 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 15 hospital staff have also been medically examined.
&#216; In the area under surveillance no suspected human cases of Avian Influenza have been detected

&#183; Hooghly District

&#216; Surveillance activity has started in 0-3 Km area.
&#216; In 0-3 Km area out of a population of 58,118 the teams have covered 4100
&#216; A total of 403 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and they are under chemoprophylaxis. 25 Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and 5 hospital staff have also been medically examined. &#183;

Howrah District

&#216; Surveillance activity has started in 0-3 Km and 3-10 Km area.
&#216; In 0-3 Km area a population of 14,300 and 3-10 Km the teams have covered 45,000
&#216; A total of 92 animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and 84 volunteers are under chemoprophylaxis. &#183;

States of Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam that share a common border with West Bengal have been instructed to ban and prevent any entry of poultry or poultry related products from West Bengal into these States. Other States have also been put on alert.

&#183; MOHFW has supplied 3,20,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 5000 personal protective equipments, 5000 N-95 masks and 20 ventilators and 150 bottles of Tamiflu syrup. An additional 1,00,000 capsules of Tamiflu is being mobilized today.

&#183; A stock of 10,000 Tamiflu and 500 PPE have been sent to the States of Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand.

&#183; The IEC campaign in initiated by MOHFW as stated in the earlier reports is continuing.

&#183; Central RRTs have been deployed to all the eleven districts. Trained Rapid Response teams from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa have also been alerted to move to West Bengal at short notice.

&#183; The manpower under Pulse-Polio programme supported by WHO has been requested to conduct surveillance for reporting influenza like illness in the districts adjoining affected areas of West Bengal. This includes the bordering districts of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa.

&#183; The situation is being monitored on a daily basis.

http://mohfw.nic.in/Status&#37;20Report%20on%20Avian%20Influenza%20in%20West%20Bengal-27.1.2008.doc

[tropical]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

What a failure that in the majority of the involved Districts the ones who must be put under the blanket are the ones who must know better the risk coming from manipulate the ill poultry:

"&#216; ... animal health workers [veterinary surgeon, poultry workers, cullers, spraying workers etc.] and ... Health personnel [medical officers, health supervisors and health workers] and ... hospital staff have been medically examined.
The personnel involved in the containment operations are under the cover of Tamiflu and are under medical supervision."
___
"India has so far not had any human cases of bird flu but Rahaman said he feared the disease would spread to humans with hundreds of people reporting flu symptoms in the state of 80 million.
...
&#183; A stock of 10,000 Tamiflu and 500 PPE have been sent to the States of Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand."

What a "whelty" stock of Tamiflu and PPE gived to 3 Indian States.

I understand now the OIE "very stable" statement to the masses - if OIE are wrong, with those potential numbers of people mixing the virus with seasonal flu, if p. starts, we will be history ...

[vinny]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

hope this is allowed,if it is true about hundreds reporting flu symptoms,and such a low amount of tamiflu and ppe being given out,i just hope the SHTF doesnt happen anytime soon,as i for one am not ready and still need the time to do more prepping,i just hope that i have that time.

[HenryN]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>602 people under flu watch in Malda
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>OUR CORRESPONDENT</TD></TR><TR><TD class=story align=left>

Malda, Jan. 29: A door-to-door survey by district health workers in bird flu-hit areas of Malda has found 602 people with symptoms like fever, running nose and cough.
?We have detected 109 such people within a 3km radius of the affected areas in Chanchol and Harishchandrapur and 493 people within a radius of 3-10km. All of them complained of fever, running nose and cough,? said Radharaman Banik, the chief medical officer of health (CMOH) of Malda.
Outbreak of avian flu among poultry birds has so far been confirmed in Chanchol I and Harishchandrapur I blocks. Now, similar outbreaks are also suspected in Kaliachak I and Kaliachak III.
It is not yet known if H5N1 or the bird flu virus has infected some of these 602 people, but Banik said all of them were being kept under observation.
?We are opening a special ward in the Chanchol subdivisional hospital in case we need to admit any of them and we will also send their blood samples to the Bhopal laboratory,? said the CMOH.
A mystery fever is also stalking Malda town. D. Sarkar, the superintendent of the railway hospital here, said: ?We have been getting patients with high fever and chest pains and we are not being able to detect the source of infection. We have sent quite a few patients to B.R. Singh Hospital in Sealdah.?
However, no one has been confirmed with pneumonia, the known symptom of bird flu.
A team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Delhi and experts from the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta, arrived here today to study the situation.
The team includes NICD joint-director Shah Hossain and G. Sengupta, a microbiologist from the institute in Calcutta. The experts met senior district officials and, according to sources, gave a clean chit to the administration for the manner in which the situation is being handled.
The animal resources development (ARD) department, on the other hand, is getting ready to send culling teams to Kaliachak I and Kaliachak III blocks after birds started dying there in large numbers.
?The central team from the NICD has visited the areas and from the manner in which poultry birds are dying there, the experts are certain that it is a bird flu outbreak,? said Arunima Dey, subdivisional officer, headquarters.
All the nine block development officers in the Malda Sadar subdivision, including those of Kaliachak I and III, have been told to hold meeting with the panchayat pradhans and create awareness among villagers.
?We are also sending blood samples to Bhopal,? Dey said.
The subdivisional officer added that the Kaliachak blocks were adjacent to Bangladesh and the virus could have spread from the other side of the border.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080130/jsp/siliguri/story_8839936.jsp

[HenryN]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01300801/H5N1_Malda_Suspect.html

[HenryN]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01300802/H5N1_Malda_Calcutta.html

[HenryN]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01300803/H5N1_Murshidabad_Jump.html

[tropical]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Seems that:
1. the decontamination procedures and the wearing of the PPE from the teams was/is not properly observed (look at the vet./adj. nose out of the mask);
or
2. that kind of masks are obviously not enaugh shielding for the current state of the infection;
3. or both!

"The entire culling team had to be quarantined ..."

The bad practice:


The better ones:

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bengal Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

Government of India

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Status Report on Avian Influenza in West Bengal
(29.1.2008)

Number of districts affected by Avian Influenza in poultry remains the same. In the affected 13 districts, 42 blocks covering 2724 villages and four municipalities are involved.

Out of these, 1061 villages are in 0-3 Km area where a population of 10,02,057 are under daily surveillance.

2,012 cases fever/URI have been reported, 23 of them had contact history with poultry.

There are 1663 villages in the surveillance zone of 3-10 kms where a population of 6,72,891 have been surveyed.

There had been 1692 fever/URI cases, five of them had exposure history.

The district-wise details on surveillance and health related activities in 0-3 Km area and 3-10 Km area around the epicenters are as under:

More:

http://mohfw.nic.in/Status%20Report%20on%20Avian%20Influenza%20in%20West%20Bengal-29.1.2008.doc