# 1512
UPDATED 0710 EDT
Human samples test negative for bird flu
Published on Tue, Jan 22, 2008 at 14:55, Updated at Tue, Jan 22, 2008 in Nation section
Five human samples have tested negative for bird flu. The samples came from five people from Murshidabad who were exhibiting flu symptoms and had been kept under observation.
"The samples sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, were found negative," confirmed state Animal Husbandry Minister, Anirsur Rehman.
Authorities have asked for random human samples to be sent for testing.
Malda is the seventh district to be affected by the deadly avian flu virus.
This would seem to answer the question (posed below) about whether these negative reports referred to the hospitalized patients in West Bengal . . . except for one minor problem. Now the government (which just announced they tested negative) is denying they were ever quarantined at all!
In a report from the Hindustan Times today, we get this statement:
Quarantine report denied
The state health minister, Surjya Kanta Mishra, denied a newspaper report five people in West Bengal had been quarantined with bird flu symptoms.
"We don't have a single concrete suspected human infection case also," he said.
The story out of India remains confusing, contradictory, and chaotic. My comments below are now somewhat out of date, based on this update.
But my befuddlement remains.
Are these negative test results from the 5 patients reportedly in isolation in West Bengal with bird flu symptoms?
Well, that's the impression that this morning's news report gives.
It mentions that `all 5 human samples taken in West Bengal' came back negative, but never expressly links them to the 5 people in a West Bengal hospital suspected of having the disease.
We've been told that samples were taken from these 5 suspect cases, and test results were due back today, so it sounds as if these are the source of the negative tests.
Frankly, I'm not so sure.
The wording of this report makes me wonder if authorities are reporting on 5 different (random) test samples, and not the 5 people hospitalized.
What concerns me is the statement that the samples were taken from 5 people that " did not have any clinical symptoms of the disease and did not even fit the definition of suspect cases."
The five suspect cases reportedly suffered from fever, cough, sore throat and muscle ache after handling affected poultry, according to the Times of India, although that report is now being denied by the government.
So color me slightly confused. This report is sufficiently ambiguous to raise some questions in my mind. And the numbers don't add up. All 5 Human Samples from West Bengal tested negative?
Does that mean they've only tested 5 samples?
If so, I'm not terribly reassured.
Additionally `random tests' in the affected area have also returned negative results, according to India's National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). But only 5 negative tests are mentioned in this report.
Negative test results mean that the lab was unable to detect the virus in the the samples submitted. The tests we have for the H5N1 virus can sometimes fail to detect the virus, and their reliability is often further compromised by faulty collection and transportation protocols.
So, while negative tests probably mean these patients weren't infected, it is by no means a 100% certainty. And while it appears they are referencing the 5 suspect cases that have filled the news over the last 24 hours, that isn't 100% clear either.
For now, this appears to be good news. We'll see if it holds up in the long run.
As always, stay tuned. This story is subject to change.
This from The Times of India.
No case of bird flu in humans in West Bengal
22 Jan 2008, 1213 hrs IST,
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday allayed fears of bird flu spreading to human beings in West Bengal, saying random testing of people in the affected areas has been carried out and all such samples have tested negative.
"It is a general thing that if anybody has any fever or anything like that the blood will be tested and till date we have not got any confirmation for that (bird flu)," Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
The minister said that the screening is conducted between 0-10 km of the affected area and all people who live in the villages are randomly tested by health ministry teams.
"Till date we have not had any confirmation of that and there is no reason to be concerned of any cases of human cases of bird flu," he said adding "we are all vigilant".
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) which as a part of the Union Health Ministry is responsible for carrying out the screening on Tuesday said that all five human samples taken from West Bengal have tested negative.
"In fact the samples which were taken from South Dinajpur and Birbhum did not have any clinical symptoms of the disease and did not even fit the definition of suspect cases," NICD Director Shivlal said.
"Three samples which had been sent to NICD, New Delhi, had tested negative on Monday and NICD, Kolkata, which tested five samples has confirmed on Tuesday that all of them are negative for the presence of Avian Influenza," he said.
The samples had been randomly selected from people who had handled poultry, the villagers in the affected areas and the culling teams.
