The WHO assesses the current risk to the general population posed by the virus as low.
Geneva:
A two-and-a-half-year-old girl tested positive for H5N1 bird flu and required intensive care hospital treatment in Australia after traveling to India, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“This is the first confirmed human infection caused by the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus detected and reported by Australia,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Although the source of exposure to the virus in this case is currently unknown, the exposure likely occurred in India,” where the girl traveled, and where this group of “viruses has been detected in birds in the past,” the UN health agency said. added.
The WHO assesses the current risk to the general population posed by the virus as low.
The girl traveled to Kolkata from February 12 to 29. She had no known exposure to sick people or animals while in the city.
The girl returned to Australia on March 1 and was admitted to a hospital in southeastern Victoria the following day.
On March 4 she was transferred to an intensive care unit in the state capital, Melbourne, for a week as her symptoms worsened. She left the hospital after two and a half weeks.
The girl tested positive for influenza A while in hospital and samples were sent in April for further characterization.
“The genetic sequence of the virus obtained from the samples confirmed subtype A (H5N1)… which circulates in Southeast Asia and has been detected in previous human and bird infections,” the WHO said.
The girl is doing well, although no relatives in Australia or India have developed symptoms.
Indian authorities were notified and began an epidemiological investigation, the agency said.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story
