Kolkata: A four-year-old girl from West Bengal was diagnosed with Bird Flu last month, becoming the second patient of human infection of avian influenza A(H9N2) in India, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The first case was reported in 2019 in the country.
On Wednesday the WHO said, “On 22 May 2024, the International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) for India reported to WHO a case of human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2) virus detected in a child resident of West Bengal state in India.”
It added that the girl had exposure to poultry at home and in the surroundings but no one else had reported her symptoms. On January 26, the child, who is from Manikchak in Malda of North Bengal, was diagnosed with hyperreactive airway disease and was taken to a paediatrician with fever and abdominal pain.
Three days later, she developed seizures and was taken to the same paediatrician again for treatment. On February 1, the girl was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital with severe respiratory distress, recurrent high-grade fever and abdominal cramps and was diagnosed with post-infectious bronchiolitis caused by viral pneumonia.
On February 2, the patient tested positive for influenza B and adenovirus at the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at the local government hospital. She was discharged from the hospital on February 28. However, on March 3, she was referred to another government hospital with a recurrence of severe respiratory distress and was admitted to the paediatric ICU and intubated.
On March 5, a nasopharyngeal swab was sent to the Kolkata Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory and tested positive for influenza A (not sub-typed) and rhinovirus. The same sample was sent to the National Influenza Centre at the National Institute of Virology in Pune for subtyping.
On April 26, the sample was sub-typed as influenza A(H9N2) through a real-time polymerase chain reaction. On May 1, the girl was discharged from the hospital with oxygen support. She has been stable at home, a state health department official said.
