Should we hang Modi now, asks K'taka Cong leader

Mysuru, Mar 18: Even though the migration season is coming to end and the winged visitors are set to fly back, the water bodies where most birds nest and breed are under close surveillance with the report about spread of bird flu in Mysuru as unusual death of birds can be a cause for worry and hence the authorities are on high alert.

At Karanji Lake, the birds are watched in detail twice – morning and evening. If any sick bird or dead bird is noticed, the Zoo Vets are alerted. So far, no such birds had been sighted. The surveillance data is maintained every day. Intensive surveillance and passive surveillance is done.

Zoo Authority of Karnataka (ZAK) Member Secretary B P Ravi said the birds are doing well and there is no cause for worry with their health monitored constantly along with tests on the bird droppings done every month at the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal.

Washington, Jun 30: Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the US science journal PNAS.

Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.

It possesses "all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans," say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The researchers then carried out various experiments including on ferrets, which are widely used in flu studies because they experience similar symptoms to humans -- principally fever, coughing and sneezing. 

G4 was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses.

Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4.

According to blood tests which showed up antibodies created by exposure to the virus, 10.4 percent of swine workers had already been infected.

The tests showed that as many as 4.4 percent of the general population also appeared to have been exposed.

The virus has therefore already passed from animals to humans but there is no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to human -- the scientists' main worry.

"It is of concern that human infection of G4 virus will further human adaptation and increase the risk of a human pandemic," the researchers wrote.

The authors called for urgent measures to monitor people working with pigs.

"The work comes as a salutary reminder that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of zoonotic pathogens and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses," said James Wood, head of the department of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University.

A zoonotic infection is caused by a pathogen that has jumped from a non-human animal into a human.

Kasaragod, Mar 31: Two more Kasaragod natives lost their lives on Monday due to blockade of the interstate border by Karnataka police in the wake of outbreak of novel coronavirus.

They could not get emergency health care as the Karnataka police stopped the ambulance carrying them to a hospital in Mangaluru at the border.

Another critically-ill person, who was sent back by Manguluru hospital authorities on March 23 for being a Kasaragod native, also died on Monday.

This is the fifth such case in many days.

The deceased are Madhavan, 50, Ayesha, 55 and Aziz Haji, 61 respectively.

All three of them lived near the Karnataka border.

Madhavan, who hailed from Thummanattu in Manjeswaram, died enroute to Kanhangad hospital after being denied entry to cross over to Karnataka. He had an acute bronchial attack.

Udyavar native Ayesha, an asthma patient, was referred to the Mangaluru Hospital by the hospital authorities at Uppali. When the authorities stopped her at the border, she was taken to the Kanhangad hospital. However, she died before reaching the hospital.

Aziz Haji, from Nayabazar Cherugoli MA Cottage at Uppala, was allegedly refused entry into a Manguluru Hospital on March 23 on account of being a Kasaragod native. Haji was a dialysis patient at the hospital. “We were unable to contact his doctor at the time,” his relatives said. Haji, who was on the ventilator, lost his life Monday morning.

One more from Kerala dies as Karnataka police stop ambulance at border
Kunjathoor native Abdul Hameed and Bandwal native Fathima also lost their lives due to the closing of the interstate border.

The district authorities has appealed to the Government to intervene in the matter and influence Karnataka as to lift a ban in crossing over for ambulances carrying critical patients.

The people of Kasaragod are largely dependent on the medical facilities in Mangaluru for critical illness care.

The Kasaragod MP, Rajmohan Unnithan has said he would move the Supreme court against this.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already taken up the issue with the Centre.

Kerala HC takes up issue with Karnataka AAG

The Kerala High Court on Monday sought the views of the Advocate General of Karnataka on the issue of the government of the neighbouring state blocking its borders with Kerala.

Considering a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Kerala High Court Advocates Association, seeking a direction for opening the roads, a bench comprising Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Shaji P Chali requested the Advocate General of Karnataka to join the hearing at 11 am on Tuesday through video conferencing.

The Court orally observed that the blockades erecting embankments on the inter-state roads would affect the people's right to life.

The Karnataka government blocked the state highway with to prevent movement of vehicles carrying essential goods and people seeking emergency treatment at hospitals in the city of Mangalore bordering Kasaragod.

With 97 infected patients, Kasaragod has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala. 7,437 people are under observation in the district.