Haryana: India on Tuesday reported its first bird flu death as an 11-year-old boy, who was undergoing treatment at AIIMS for it, succumbed to the disease.
A senior All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) official said that the boy, who was infected with avian influenza, has died, and the entire staff concerned has been placed in isolation as a preventive measure. The deceased boy was named Susheel and he hailed from Haryana.
As per reports, bird flu outbreaks were reported across the country earlier this year, including in Haryana where the H5N8 subtype -- which is not known to infect humans -- was detected.
On July 15, China confirmed one case of bird flu with the H5N6 strain in Sichuan province. It was a 5-year old male that was affected. Medical experts believed that "the risk of an invisible epidemic is extremely low", as reported by Reuters.
Bird Flu cases were registered in Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra.