No outbreak of small pox in Burma, says India

"WHO has confirmed that these are cases of measles. It has nothing to do with small pox," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said here on Friday.

The minister said the state governments have been asked to step up surveillance in border areas.

"We have sent a communiqué to state governments to increase surveillance, whatever it may be. We need to know how many patients, if at all, are affected," he said.

Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said the Ministry of External Affairs had informed them about the reported outbreak.

"There is no need for panic. It is a false alarm," Dayal said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that there is no outbreak of small pox in Burma, he added.

"The ministry approached the WHO, which is the only agency that stockpiles the vaccines, to confirm the news, and they checked with them (the authorities in Burma) and found the reports to be false," he said.

Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma said his ministry takes the advice of the Health Ministry on these issues, but as it was a matter of concern they sounded an alert.

"Normally we go by the advice of the Health Ministry on these issues, but if in our neighbourhood there is any such development which poses concern then it is a standard exercise to issue an alert," he told reporters.

"That does not mean that some thing has already come and there is any cause for panic," he added.

The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) chief Shiv Lal said they received a communiqué from
the Indian High Commissioner that there has been reports of suspected outbreak of small pox in Burma.

Lal said immediately after they received the information they swung into action and the Health Ministry officers held a top level meeting.

"We immediately informed WHO on this aspect. WHO confirmed that the news about outbreak in Burma was false," he said.

Lal said as the news was found to be false, there was no need to take any action. "Our Rapid Action Team is always ready if such a situation arises. But now there is no need for us to take any action," he said.

Lal said panic could have been triggered due to health workers confusing measles with small pox.

The last case of small pox was reported in Somalia in 1977.The WHO declared it to be eradicated from the world in 1979.

The last death from small pox reported in the world was from Birmingham in the UK in 1978 where laboratory workers contracted the viral when dealing with the virus.

He said vaccination for the virus went out of circulation in the world by 1986.

Sources: MIZZIMA