The youngster had visited Kolkata, India, and the family claimed they had no known contact with infected individuals or animals during their stay, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which confirmed the first human case of H5N1 bird flu in Australia a few weeks earlier. On May 22, the WHO had said that the child was hospitalized on March 2 and remained there for more than two weeks.
The child left Australia on February 12 and arrived in Kolkata between February 12 and February 19, arriving back in Australia on March 1.
According to the WHO, genomic sequencing revealed the virus to be subtype H5N1, a member of a Southeast Asian strain that has been linked to infections in humans and poultry in the past.
How did the child contract the infection?
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says it’s critical to determine whether the youngster came into touch with chickens or other birds, or whether there was a local H5N1 outbreak. “H5N1 viruses do not transmit efficiently between humans and I suspect there’s an occult animal exposure that led to the infection,” Adalja stated to Reuters.
The child in question, a 2.5-year-old girl, has no underlying medical issues. She has previously visited Kolkata, India between February 12 and 29, 2024. She arrived back in Australia on March 1, 2024.
The infant arrived at a Victoria hospital on March 2, 2024, after traveling back to Australia, where she was given medical attention and admitted the same day. A week later, on March 4, the patient was admitted to a Melbourne, Victoria, referral hospital’s critical care unit because of deteriorating symptoms. After being hospitalized for 2.5 weeks, the patient was released from the facility. The WHO announced in a news statement that the case is now reported to be clinically healthy.
What were her symptoms?
The youngster was brought to a doctor on the evening of February 28, 2024 in India after exhibiting symptoms of illness on February 25, 2024, including fever, irritability, and loss of appetite. She had paracetamol because she had a fever, was coughing, and was vomiting. When the youngster arrived in Australia on March 1, 2024, it was not reported to a biosecurity officer at the airport.