By IANS
Kolkata : The West Bengal government Saturday allayed fears of human infection in the avian-flu hit state saying a health worker who fell ill after culling of poultry tested negative for the presence of the virus.
With this all the 19 people in West Bengal whose blood samples were sent to central laboratories have tested negative bringing relief to the government battling India’s worst ever bird flu.
“The man who fell ill after returning from culling at Rampurhat (in Birbhum district) was under special observation at a hospital. His samples were sent for tests and his results are negative,” senior health official R.S. Shukla told IANS.
The health worker, Subhas Barui, a resident of Janka village in East Midnapore, fell ill Jan 30. He was admitted in the isolation ward at Tomluk Hospital, 125 km from here.
“There were reports that he had not taken the Tamiflu tablets, which is unlikely to be true. All cullers take the medicine,” Shukla said.
The massive slaughter of birds across the state, with a culling target of 2.9 million, ended Saturday, Shukla confirmed.
In West Bengal, the H5N1 virus that causes avian influenza has hit parts of 13 out of 19 districts in the state. About 1.8 million people stay in the affected areas.
Shukla described as incorrect reports of humans being quarantined. “No one has been quarantined. There is only routine surveillance on the people engaged in culling operations. Many of them are anyway falling sick due to the intense cold.
“We are maintaining records of people falling sick. If there is anything indicative of human infection, we will take all necessary measures. But so far all 19 tests we have carried out have proved negative,” Shukla said.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) chief medical officer Deb Dwaipayan Chattopadhyay said at least a dozen farms had been allowed to sell poultry products in the city. He asked people to consume chicken without worry.
A report of possible bird flu outbreak in North 24 Parganas’ Baduria area, about 50 km from here, is yet to be confirmed.
Earlier, Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahman said all poultry farmers and egg sellers would be compensated and each family losing birds to culling or deaths from the H5N1 virus would be given Rs.500.
Bird flu was confirmed in West Bengal Jan 15. The affected districts are South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, South Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Burdwan, Bankura, Malda, Cooch Behar, Purulia and West Midnapore.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a long border with West Bengal, bird flu has affected 29 of the 64 districts. The outbreak in that country was announced Jan 3.