WHO South-East Asia Region Epidemiological Bulletin, 12th edition (2024), 12 June 2024. Reporting period: 27 May – 09 June 2024

This epidemiological bulletin aims to provide the situation of key infectious diseases in the WHO South-East Asia region to inform risk assessments and responses. The bulletin uses information from publicly available sources and will be published every two weeks. For feedback or suggestions, please write to seoutbreak@who.int.

Key events and updates

Situation as of 11 June 2024

Situation Overview

• WHO Disease Outbreak News published an article on A(H9N2) in India.

• On 22 May 2024, the International Health Regulations (IHR) National Focal Point (NFP) for India reported to WHO a case of human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2) virus.

• The patient is a 4-year-old child residing in West Bengal state, who reportedly had exposure to poultry at home and the surroundings.

• He was initially diagnosed with hyperreactive airway and presented fever and abdominal pain on 26 January 2024. He further developed seizures, respiratory distress symptoms persisted and had recurrent high-grade fever and abdominal cramps.

• On 2 February, he tested positive for influenza B and adenovirus and remained hospitalized until 28 February 2024.

• On 3 March, with a recurrence of severe respiratory distress, he was referred to another hospital and was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) and intubated.

• On 5 March, he tested positive for influenza A and rhinovirus. On 26 April, the sample was sub-typed as influenza A(H9N2) through real-time polymerase chain reaction.

• On 1 May, the case was discharged from the hospital with oxygen support and has recovered.

• There were no known persons reporting symptoms of respiratory illness in the family, the neighborhood, or among health care workers at health facilities attended by the case at the time of reporting.

• Public health measures implemented include the investigation of the influenza-like illness (ILI) in local poultry and enhanced surveillance of ILI in humans and animals.

• Based on the currently available information, WHO assesses the risk for the general population as low.