An 11-year-old boy who was undergoing treatment for Avian Influenza has died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. This is the first bird flu death recorded in the country since the beginning of this year. The entire staff at AIIMS, New Delhi, has been placed in isolation as a preventative measure.
AIIMS officials said, “The 12-year-old boy being treated at the hospital’s D5 ward was found to be infected with H5N1 (Avian flu) after the diagnosis. The boy was suffering from leukemia and pneumonia. He was under treatment and admitted to the ICU of AIIMS in Delhi.” According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), human cases of bird flu (Avian Influenza) occur ” occasionally” but when they do happen, the mortality rate is about 60 per cent. experts detected the H5N8 subtype of the Avian Influenza virus. This strain is not known to infect humans. According to reports, samples from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala had tested positive for the A (H5N8) strain of the virus, while samples from Himachal Pradesh had shown the presence of A (H5N1). The central government had sounded an alert when cases of bird flu were confirmed in Delhi and at least ten states, including Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana. Culling of birds was carried out in large numbers across the country in a bid to counter the spread of infection.
