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#18,265
Overnight the Indian media has been filled with excited - and in some cases, inconsistent - reports of 1 or more human infections with `bird flu' (subtypes mentioned are H1N1 & H9N2) detected in the Puri district of Odisha, which is currently dealing with an H5N1 outbreak in poultry.
It isn't at all clear whether any of these cases have actually tested positive for avian influenza - or of what subtype - although samples have reportedly been sent to Pune for further analysis.
India has previously reported 2 H9N2 cases (2019 & 2024), 1 case of H5N1 in 2021, and was the apparent source of an exported case of H5N1 (in a child) who traveled to Australia last March. Over the years there have been other suspected cases, but none were officially confirmed.
While the facts of these suspected cases are (for now) uncertain, it is clear something is going on, as Odisha's Directorate of Health has issued a barrage of documents over the past few hours pertaining to the investigation, and their response.
Starting with these, yesterday:
In the past few hours these directives have been issued, both marked Top Most Urgent. The second one references `suspected human cases'.
This may all turn out to be false alarm, but local officials are quite obviously taking it seriously.
Stay tuned.
