No human bird flu case so far, says govt

Three persons, including a boy and a doctor, who were suffering from fever, were today kept under medical observation here for suspected symptoms of bird flu. The district administration, however, said no confirmed human case of the disease had been found.

"A woman in Jamner and a Jalgaon doctor were found suffering from fever during surveillance by medical teams today," Animal Husbandry Commissioner Bijay Kumar said.

The two have been admitted to hospital and were under observation. They were being administered medication, he said. Health officials also found a boy with fever in Jalgaon district and put him under observation Friday evening, District Collector Vijay Singhal said.

The boy is reported to have handled poultry.

The district collector said the boy was thoroughly examined by a team of specialists from National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, yesterday.

Singhal said while the boy did not come under 'suspected' category, but as a precautionary measure, he had been kept under observation in the isolation ward and was also given Tamiflu, the most potent drug against avian influenza.

"The outbreak in backyard poultry here was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected humans so far," Singhal said.

Meanwhile, the administration has completed culling nearly 80,000 chicken in four villages declared infected by the avian influenza.

"The culling is over. Till yesterday, 83,259 birds were killed," the animal husbandry commissioner said.