Australia's bird flu case likely came from India, says WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday (Jun 7) confirmed that the child with H5N1 bird flu reported by Australia last month had travelled to Kolkata, India. However, the family said that they did not have any known exposure to infected people or animals while there, reported Reuters.

Australia last month reported its first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in a child. It was then reported that the child was infected in India.

The WHO said that the genetic sequencing showed the avian influenza virus was H5N1, which is a strain that circulates in South-East Asia. It has majorly been detected in previous human infections and in poultry.

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"Although the source of exposure to the virus in this case is currently unknown, the exposure likely occurred in India, where the case had travelled, and where this clade of A(H5N1) viruses has been detected in birds in the past," the WHOsaid in a statement.

The world health body said that the two-year-old girl from Victoria travelled to Kolkata from February 12 to February 19 and returned to Australia on March 1. The WHO stated that as of May 22, no close family relations in Australia or India had shown symptoms.

Victoria's health department said that the child was hospitalised on March 2 and remained there for more than two weeks before making a "full recovery".

"Additional information provided by the family indicates that the case did not travel outside of Kolkata, India, and did not have any known exposure to sick persons or animals while in India,"saidWHO.

Earlier in a statement, Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Clare Looker, had said it was unclear how the child had picked up the virus.

"So either visiting poultry farms or live wet markets, which have birds at them, or if they've had a lot of contact with domesticated birds," she said, further noting that the spread of this virus to humans was usually from exposure to poultry.

"Occasionally, people can also get it from handling the meat or eggs of infected birds. We couldn't identify a clear event that led to this child's infection, but we suspect it's one of those things," sheadded.

Philippines bans imports of poultry products from Australia

Meanwhile, The Philippines' agriculture ministry said on Saturday (June 8) that it was banning the imports of birds and poultry products from Australia because of a bird flu outbreak in Australian states.

The ministry said that imports of wild and domestic birds from Australia, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen will be stopped with immediate effect.

(With inputs from agencies)