A medical panel is set to visit Kaliachak in Malda, West Bengal to investigate a case of a child reportedly affected by the avian virus H9N2, as stated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The two-member expert committee, led by Dr. Dipankar Majhi, the state surveillance officer, is scheduled to arrive in Malda on Thursday evening and conduct an assessment of the child’s condition on Friday.
The team will also assess the health infrastructure in Malda, with a focus on influenza-like illness (ILI) following the detection of the second case of H9N2 in India, according to WHO reports. A 4-year-old girl was admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital with influenza symptoms on January 26. After receiving treatment for over a month, she was transferred to Kolkata. Subsequent blood tests confirmed the presence of the H9N2 avian virus, and after further treatment, the child recovered and was discharged. WHO documented this as the second case of the virus in India, following the first case in 2019.
Sudipta Bhaduri, the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) in Malda, clarified that the virus is not transmissible between humans. Tests conducted on 14 family members of the child and nearly 29,000 poultry samples by the Animal Resource Development department all returned negative for the virus.
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