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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Nepal : No human tested positive for bird flu‚ claims EDCD

Via The Himalayan Times :

The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division today said bird flu has not been detected in the human population to date, but seven persons — six from Bhaktapur and one from Lalitpur — were found to have been affected by pandemic influenza A(H1N1), commonly known as swine flu, this month. All eight, however, returned home safe after being treated for pandemic and seasonal influenza.

The EDCD had tested influenza samples collected from suspected cases in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Hetauda between August 4 and August 20, said Kumar Dahal, a public health inspector at the EDCD. None of the samples tested positive for bird flu, avian influenza A (H5N1), said Dahal, adding that 13 samples, recently taken from Kavre, are under lab test. “It will take 72 hours for the results. The EDCD will make public the current status of avian influenza in humans in a couple of days.”

According to Dahal, tests on the seven samples showed pandemic influenza A(H1N1), which was first reported in 2009. Influenza A(H1N1) virus is the subtype of influenza A virus and some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans and cause a small fraction of all influenza-like illness and a small fraction of all seasonal influenza.

The six samples from Jagati, Bhaktapur, were collected on August 4 and one was taken from Jharuwarshi on August 6. The other samples that tested negative were collected from Bhaktapur municipality; Jharuwarshi, Lalitpur; Gothatar, Bhaktapur; Kirtipur, Kathmandu; Kamane; and Chaugadha of Hetauda. “The Walter Reed/AFRIMS Research Unit Nepal, along with the National Public Health Laboratory, is also conducting tests for avian influenza,” Geeta Shakya, Director, NPHL, told THT. The Walter Reed/AFRIMS Research Unit Nepal is an international project supported by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA."

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