Four cullers quarantined in Manipur, no human infection

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) Four persons in Manipur, who had fever along with acute respiratory infection and who were in contact with either dead or sick birds, have been found to be negative for Avian Influenza while four cullers have been quarantined and 223 people put under Tamiflu.

Health Ministry said today that the these four persons, whose health status was being monitored by the Central Rapid Response Team, were now afebrile. Their clinical samples have been tested at National Institute of Virology, Pune and National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Delhi and found negative for Avian Influenza virus by RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction).

Meanwhile, four cullers have been quarantined and put under medical surpervision while 172 cullers, 36 supportive staff and eleven medical staff in the quarantine camp are also under Tamiflu. These four cullers found medically unfit were withdrawn from the culling operations. They continued to be under quarantine and medical supervision The health status of the cullers are being monitored.

As of now, 172 cullers are under the cover of Tamiflu since the notification of outbreak of avian influenza in Chingmeirong Village in East Imphal district on July 25. In addition 36 supportive staff and 11 medical staff in the quarantine camp are also under Tamiflu. Their health status is also being monitored.

The entire population of the infected zone upto 3 Kms are under active surveillance on a daily basis. For such purpose, the State Government has deployed health teams consisting of 680 health personnel (20 medical officers, 60 supervisors and 600 workers).

In this zone the surveillance teams have covered 45,032 houses with population of 2,35,161 on daily basis. On July 31, they detected 126 fever/ ARI cases some of which are follow-up of earlier cases.

They are being monitored.

Surveillance activity has also been initiated in the 3 to 10 Kms zone. Doctors from West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya are being provided hands on training at the site on containment operations.

The Central Rapid Response Team of Ministry of Health deputed in Imphal has been providing assistance to the State Government. A senior officer from the Ministry visited the State from July 29 to July 31 and reviewed the operations and held discussions with the State health authorities.

The isolation ward in J.N. Hospital, Imphal are ready to receive patients. Two ventilators have been installed to provide critical care. This is in addition to the critical care facilities available at Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal.

Adequate supply of logistics including 10,000 capsules of Tamiflu, 1000 N-95 masks and 2000 personal protective gears have been made available to the State Government.

The situation is being closely monitored. As of now, there is no suspected human cases of Avian Influenza.

UNI