The Hindu : Front Page : No case of human bird flu, says Anbumani

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Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
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No case of human bird flu, says Anbumani

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday said no case of human bird flu was reported from the country, and blamed the West Bengal Government’s “delayed” action for the rapid spread of the disease in the State.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, Dr. Ramadoss said: “There was an initial delay of a week for notices to be sent to us, but now things have been put on track.”

Expedite culling

Dr. Ramadoss said the situation could have been handled better if action was taken earlier. Culling operations needed to be speeded up to prevent the disease from spreading.

Denying reports that there were some suspected cases of the disease having spread to humans, he said so far there was no confirmation of that. Screening was conducted within 10 km of the affected areas and all people who lived in the villages were randomly tested by Health Ministry teams.

“Samples are being lifted randomly and any case of fever is being attended to vigilantly. However, so far all human blood samples have tested negative,” he added.

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