# 1698
Although the media is reporting this as a suspected bird flu case, the patient hails from Meghalaya, a state in North Eastern India, and not from the hotzone area of West Bengal.
From the details of this report (fever and rash), it is certainly possible this patient is suffering from something other than H5N1. But obviously, someone there is worried over the possibility.
Tests are pending. This from The Times of India.
Suspected bird-flu case in Meghalaya
21 Feb 2008, 2053 hrs IST,
SHILLONG: A girl suspected to be suffering from bird flu was admitted at Shillong Civil Hospital on Thursday sending Meghalaya health department into a tizzy.
State Director of Health Services Dr K H Lakiang said the 21-year-old girl, Anjalina Paslain was admitted with fever and rashes and had been kept in the isolation ward.
The girl, who hails from Sipung in the Jaintia Hills district was first admitted at the local health center, after which she was taken to a private hospital in Shillong, which during the day referred her to the government civil hospital.
Dr Lakiang said: "The blood and stool samples have been collected and will be sent for tests for bird flu virus to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi on Friday," he said.
"Nothing can be said as of now," he said, while not ruling out the possibility of bird flu.
District Surveillance Officer (Integrated Diseases Surveillance Cell) Dr M Basaiawmoit and other senior officials of the health department also did not rule out the possibility, but said nothing could be confirmed till the test results were received.
