Bird flu spreads to Sikkim

The Union health ministry has rushed a three-member team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases to Sikkim after it became the third state in the country to report an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu this year. West Bengal and Assam are already reeling under an outbreak. The team, comprising a microbiologist, an epidemiologist and a physician, will step up surveillance on human beings in the affected districts. People living within a 3-10 km radius of the outbreak will be checked for symptoms of Avian Influenza. India till now has not reported a single human case of AI. A health ministry official said: ‘‘This spread of the virus is really bothering us. We don’t know whether the virus has got entrenched in India or whether it is being spread by wild migratory birds.’’ He added: ‘‘The outbreak in Sikkim in the Hospital Road locality of Ravangla municipality in south Sikkim looks to be a case of lateral infection. The new infection site is very close to Siliguri which has already seen an outbreak.’’ The ministry has immediately airlifted 5,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 5,000 three-layered surgical masks, 100 personal protective equipment and 100 N-95 masks. ‘‘The central rapid response team reached Gangtok on Tuesday to assist state health authorities in containment measures,’’ officials said. Officials in Sikkim said they would initially cull an estimated 15,000 chickens and ducks. Ministry sources said around 36 birds have died in Ravangla area. Experts fear the H5N1 virus might mutate and spark a pandemic. There have been 249 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain and 397 confirmed cases of infection since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003. WHO had described a January 2008 outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal, where more than four million birds were culled, as the worst ever in India. One official said what was causing concern was that the virus might have got embedded in Bengal. ‘‘Scientists are trying to find whether West Bengal has become a reservoir or not. What’s worse is that the outbreaks this time have occurred in urban settings. This is more risky, considering the population,’’ he added.