Human Case of Bird Flu in Australia Was Sent to the WHO for Detection

Australia’s first bird flu H5N1 was sent to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for further characterisation before it was formally identified. The revelation comes after an Avian Influenza A (H5N1) case was identified in a two-and-a-half-year-old child who had travelled to India. A nasopharyngeal swab and endotracheal aspirate taken on March 6 and 7 tested positive for influenza A at a referral hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, which was then sent to the WHO. “The samples were sent to the WHO CC for further characterisation on 3 April as part of a batch, as there was insufficient knowledge from the referring practitioners at the hospital to connect the case to the H5N1 virus,” the WHO said in a statement on June 7....