GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the child with H5N1 bird flu reported by Australia last month had travelled to Kolkata, India, and the family stated they did not have any known exposure to infected people or animals during their stay.
According to the WHO, the child, Australia’s first case of H5N1 in a person, traveled to Kolkata from February 12 to February 19 and returned to Australia on March 1. The child was admitted to the hospital on March 2 and remained there for over two weeks. As of May 22, no close family members in Australia or India had shown symptoms.
Genetic sequencing confirmed the virus as subtype H5N1, part of a strain prevalent in Southeast Asia and previously detected in human infections and poultry.
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, emphasized the need for an investigation to determine if the child had contact with poultry or birds during their visit, or if there was a nearby outbreak of this strain of H5N1. Adalja highlighted that H5N1 viruses typically do not transmit efficiently between humans, suggesting a probable animal exposure leading to the infection.
