(Image source from: livemint.com)

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll across the globe. Before one could get relieved from the pain, there are several other infections during these monsoons making everyone sleepless. Bird flu is generally found in birds and it transmits to human beings in rare cases. Several states witnessed bird flu cases during this pandemic time. The first-ever human case of bird flu is traced in the country during the last week of June. The 11-year-old was admitted to AIIMS and the doctors suspected of Covid-19 initially. When he is tested negative, the doctors traced that it was bird flu. The boy was suffering from pneumonia and leukemia. His blood samples are sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The reports confirmed that he is infected with bird flu.

Generally, bird flu does not affect human beings. But there are rare cases of infection through sporadic transmission from birds to humans. Bird flu cannot transmit from one infected human to other as it cannot attach to the human cells. There are 239 cases of human infection between January 2003 to July 8th, 2021 as per the reports from the World Health Organization (WHO). Health experts say that bird flu is deadlier than coronavirus and its mortality rate is 60 percent and the same for Covid is 3 percent. The doctors are currently analyzing the situation of the boy in AIIMS.

By Siva Kumar