India reports first human death from bird flu

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – An 11-year-old boy has died in India from an avian influenza virus of the H5N1 strain, the first such death in the country, highlighting a potential new risk for the second country on most populous in the world struggling with the Coronavirus pandemic.

The boy was admitted to India’s First Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on July 2 and died of multiple organ failure on Tuesday, according to a government statement.

Health workers treating the patient and the boy’s family have been kept in isolation and authorities have initiated contact tracing, the statement said.

In Haryana, the boy’s home state in northern India, the Livestock Department has found no suspected cases of bird flu and has stepped up surveillance, he said.

India has experienced more than half a dozen bird flu outbreaks in poultry over the past two decades, all of which have been brought under control with no human cases reported in the country before.