Thursday, December 11, 2008

India: Respiratory tract infection cases coming in

Staff reporter
GUWAHATI, Dec 11 – “The State Health Department is not fully equipped to meet a situation if the bird flu transmits to humans in a full-fledged manner. If it turns to be a disaster, we don’t have the facilities to face it,” said Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a press conference here this morning.

“Once the disease transmits to humans in a full-fledged manner, then there will be a major disaster,” he warned and made an appeal to the poultry farmers not to take the phenomenon casually, expressing concern over the indifference shown to it by some farmers. The poultry farmers should cooperate with the Veterinary Department in tackling the situation, he urged.

Apprising the newspersons that reports of cases of upper respiratory tract infections (URI) have started coming, the Minister said it was a matter of concern. The URI cases have come to the knowledge of the authorities due to the surveillance undertaken by the ASHA and Health Department workers.

However, the Minister said, Central Government teams of doctors comprising physician, epidemiologist, microbiologists and public health experts, under the Regional Director of Health and Family Welfare, are stationed in the affected areas of Hajo, Rani and Rampur Development Blocks in Kamrup District and affected areas of Barpeta and Nalbari Districts. Teams for other affected areas are being readied. The situation is being monitored on a daily basis, he said.

Isolation facilities have been strengthened to admit and treat suspected cases and 10,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 6,000 surgical masks, 600 personal protective equipment, 200 N-95 masks and two ventilators have been supplied to the State by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, while additional logistics are also being mobilised, said the Minister.

The communication materials developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the UNICEF in Assamese for both the print and electronic media have been sipplied to the State Government, he said.

Giving details of the URI cases found so far in the State, the Minister said that in the Hajo Development Block of Kamrup District, a human population of 23,473 in the 0-3 km radius area around the affected area, spreading over 25 villages, is under active surveillance. Of which, a population of 21,412 was covered under surveillance on December 10. In the 3-10 km radius area, out of 1,08,416 people, 32,929 have been covered.

Four cases of URI with fever were reported from the area, but no case of influenza like illness with history of contact with infected poultry has been detected in them. Moreover, five cases of URI have been identified in the out patient department of the identified hospital, but none of them has any history of exposure to sick or dead poultry, said the Minister.

In the Rampur Development Block of the district, a population of 39,830 has been covered in the 0-3 km radius area by active surveillance. A total of 30 cases of URI and fever have been detected. None of these has, however, a history of exposure to infected poultry. In the 3-10 km radius area, of the affected area of the block, active surveillance has covered a population of 18,916, he said.

While conducting the passive surveillance in the health facilities, 14 cases of URI and fever have been detected and none of them has any history of exposure to infected poultry, said the Minister.

In the Azara Development Block of Kamrup District, out of a total population 8,572 in 24 villages in the 0-3 km radius, a population of 7,222 has been covered. In the 3-10 km radius area around the affected part of the block, a population of 5,608 has been covered by the surveillance programme, the Minister said.

Two cases of fever and URI are identified in the 0-3 km radius area around the affected part of the block. In the 3-10 km radius area, six cases of fever with URI and fever have been identified. But none of them has any history of exposure to sick or dead birds. The identified hospitals of the block, have reported a total of 23 fever and URI cases. But none of them has any history of exposure to infected poultry.

In Barpeta District, out of the total population of 33,934 in the 0-3 km radius area from the affected area, a population of 6,032 have been surveyed and the surveillance in the 3-10 km radius area from the affected area is being initiated. So far, 60 cases of fever with URI have been detected in the 0-3 km radius area. None of them has, however, any history of exposure to the infected birds, the Minister said.

In Nalbari district, the surveillance programme has covered a population of 7,761, out of the total population of 34,627 in the 0-3 km radius area. One case of fever with URI has been detected in the 0-3 km radius area. However, the patient has no history of exposure to diseased birds, said the Minister.

hat-tip Niman

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