India reports a human case of avian influenza A H9N2. This was reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), which explains that it received the alert on 22 May from the National Focal Point required by the International Health Regulations. The infected patient is a 4-year-old boy residing in the state of West Bengal in India, who has recovered and been discharged from hospital, the statement said. This is the second human infection with avian influenza A H9N2 reported to WHO from India, the first being in 2019.
The child, with a previous diagnosis of hyperreactive airway disease – according to the WHO – presented himself to the pediatrician on January 26 with fever and abdominal pain. On January 29th he developed convulsions and was reported to the same doctor. On February 1st he was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of a local hospital due to the persistence of severe breathing difficulty, high fever and abdominal cramps. The little boy was diagnosed with post-infectious bronchiolitis caused by viral pneumonia. On February 2, the patient tested positive for influenza B and adenovirus. Discharged from hospital on 28 February, on 3 March he was hospitalized again for a respiratory relapse in another hospital in pediatric intensive care and intubated.
On March 5, a nasopharyngeal swab was sent to the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Calcutta and tested positive for influenza A (not subtyped) and rhinovirus. The same sample was sent to the National Influenza Center of the National Institute of Virology in Pune, where on 26 April the PCR test detected influenza A virus H9N2. On May 1, the child was discharged from the hospital with oxygen support. The patient was found to have been exposed to poultry in and around the home. Among his contacts – family, neighbors, and healthcare workers – no one has reported respiratory symptoms.
According to the WHO “further human cases may occur sporadic, as this virus is one of the most widespread avian influenza viruses circulating in poultry in several regions.”