Central team calls for testing of doctors, staff for antibodies
A five-member Central team of experts here on Thursday called for testing of all doctors and staff members involved in the treatment of the two-year-old girl who died recently of bird flu.
Vijayawada:A five-member Central team of experts here on Thursday called for testing of all doctors and staff members involved in the treatment of the two-year-old girl who died recently of bird flu.
This is to find out H5N1 antibodies in them.
The team also sought a review of all patient admissions during the nine-day period from March 4 to 15 and tests on them for antibodies.
The team, who came in as part of its investigations to identify the root cause of death of a human due to suspected avian influenza, visited the office of the animal husbandry director here.
The experts inquired about the avian influenza’s epicentres in Palnadu and its surrounding districts.
The director Dr Damodar Naidu explained about the practice of traditional meat consumption wherein live chickens were shown to customers before slaughter, indicating that the infected birds would not reach the vendors, in view of the high mortality rate among such infected birds.
However, he said some chickens might have developed immunity to the virus.
The director informed the experts that local chicken vendors did not report any abnormalities in the poultry and that the survey conducted in two to three villages found no signs of disease among the poultry.
He explained that during the outbreak of bird flu in February and March, an official was deputed per each infected poultry farm to oversee culling of the birds. However, the animal and environmental samples were collected and these were being sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for testing.
The team visited the AIIMS at Mangalagiri and interacted with its director, medical superintendent and other doctors to review the details on the death of the two-year-old girl from Narasaraopet in Palnadu district.
AIIMS doctors informed the higher authorities about admission of the girl from March 4 to 15 with symptoms like cold, fever and respiratory issues from the first day of admission. The girl was initially admitted at a private hospital with a provisional diagnosis of dengue. Subsequently, she was brought to the AIIMS and the cause of death was found to be leptospirosis.
As per findings in the labs, her samples tested positive for influenza A on March 7. After some tests, the NIV Pune confirmed H5N1 on March 31. However, the AIIMS did not report the case on the IDSP-IHIP portal.
The experts visited VRDL, AIIMS and interacted with the microbiologist with regard to influenza trends and later visited the PICU where the girl was treated. The members assessed the bed spacing, air filtration and isolation facilities. They noticed that the girl was treated in PICU instead of a single-bed isolation ward due to non-availability of a ventilator.
On Friday, the experts would visit the Balaiah Nagar in Narasaraopet in Palnadu district, where the girl’s home was located, to carry out further investigations.
The five experts are: Dr Ankur Garg, JD-NCDC; Dr Nidhi Sami, JD-microbiology-NCDC; Dr Raghavendra-pulmonologist-AIIMS Mangalagiri; Dr Vijay-representative from DAHD and Dr Shailesh Pawar-scientist-NIV Pune.
