No bird flu case in fever-hit Malegaon

     Malegaon (Maharashtra): Health officials in Maharashtra's Malegaon district on Saturday denied the presence of any human case of bird flu even as 68 people suffering from high fever, joint pains and body ache were admitted to a city hospital. Over 1000 people in the districts are under treatment for the past week, either at home or in hospitals, for bird flu-like symptoms of high fever, body ache and joint pains. Officials say the fever was not related to bird flu and samples have been sent for verification. "It is not related to bird flu at all. We have taken samples of 20 people and sent it to Pune Virology centre. The reports are awaited," Srilekha, a medical officer in Malegaon said. The latest outbreak -- in backyard poultry of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra -- was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza, but it has not infected humans so far. Officials say it was through the active surveillance that the outbreak was detected. "We have found 956 patients in active surveillance. Still there is active surveillance going on. Where the outbreak is concerned...we think it is a virus outbreak and we think it may be Chicken Guinea or simple dengue," said doctor Bharat B. Baag.

     After the first outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all proved negative. Veterinary workers had throttled almost half of over 70,000 birds and said they hoped to complete the culling by Saturday. Traffic in and around the affected area remained restricted. The first outbreak cost the poultry industry more than 120 million dollar in just two weeks. Roughly half of country's 1.1 billion people eat chicken. The bird flu virus has spread rapidly since the beginning of February, moving deeper into Europe, Africa and Asia.

Back to Headlines                  Go To Top