KATHMANDU, May 2: Bird flu has claimed the life of a 21-year old man in Kavrepalanchowk district.

This is the first time the H5N1 and HPAI virus has killed a human in Nepal, according to Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun, Chief of Clinical Research Unit at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku.

Ministry of Health, organizing a press conference informed about the death of the 21-year-old by Bird flu. The deceased’s name has been kept confidential.

He had gone to Teku Hospital on March 24 complaining of fever and cough. He was detected Bird flu positive when his saliva was sent to the National Public Health Laboratory for a test. His DNA and blood samples were then sent to Japan for validation. On April 30, Japan confirmed he was killed by H5N1 virus.

Bird flu, also called avian influenza, is a viral infection that can infect not only birds but also humans and other animals.

H5N1 is the most common form of bird flu, and is deadly to birds and can easily affect humans and other animals that come in contact with a carrier.

According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 was first discovered in humans in 1997 and has killed nearly 60 percent of those infected.

KATHMANDU, March 19: High alertness is to be adopted in the aftermath of the detection of bird flu (H5N1 virus) in some of poultry farms in Kathmandu.

A municipal-level meeting held to identify measures so that the situation could be handled effectively decided this, according to Municipal Livestock Health Division chief Dr Jay Prakash Raya Yadav.

Observation of symptoms of poultries at every farms inside a radius of three kilometers from Phutung, the affected area in Tarakeshwor-7, will be made, public awareness programs will be launched and a ban on the import of chicken, eggs, feeds and other poultry products will be imposed for certain days.

Likewise, local health workers and health volunteers will be mobilized into two groups to launch the public awareness program. Earlier, 28,000 poultries at the Sagar Poultry Farm owned by Shyam Sundar Basnet and 8,000 at Akash Poultry Farm of Shyam Kumar Basnet were destroyed as preventive measures, following the detection of virus. Farmers were urged to give attention to biological safety measures. Other nearby farms have also reported the virus, he said. RSS

KATHMANDU: Nepal government’s agency on Monday denied death of any Nepalese citizens due to the Bird Flu virus.

Epidemiology and Disease Control Division issued a press release stated that the two women who had died in Bharatpur Teaching Hospital on Sunday did not had any symptoms of the virus.

“Because the hospital made it clear that the deaths were caused by pneumonia, we did not think it was necessary to test the samples,” said Kumar Dahal of the Department of Health Services. He addded that none of the the lab tests for throat swabs were conducted as the Hospital itself had clarified the cause of the death.

“We would have conducted tests to confirm whether they had died of H5N1 virus had they been suspected of having epidemiological link with bird-flu,” denying any negligence on the part of the division.

“Any suggestion that they died from bird flu is but a baseless rumour.” he added. Clarifying the issue further, Dahal said that the standard operation procedures enable to establish epidemiological links may be established under two key circumstances: people should come from bird-flu hit area and they have to have contact with poultry products within the past two weeks.