China Reports Two Human Bird Flu Deaths

[Treyfish]

Re: CHINA - confirms new human case [died] of bird flu

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="99%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=DetaildTitleGolden id=tdMainHeader width="100%">China bird flu death raises alarm</TD><TD vAlign=center></TD><TD vAlign=center align=left></TD></TR><TR><TD id=tdbyLine width="100%" colSpan=3>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...971B4659F3.htm</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px"><TABLE height=350 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2 height=1></TD></TR><TR><TD class=PaddingTop10 id=tdSubHeader vAlign=top colSpan=2 height=60><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE style="DISPLAY: inline" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=309 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right width="100%"><TABLE borderColor=#c0c0c0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=0% border=0 imageTableTakeCare><TBODY><!-- TOKEN --><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana" align=middle>Most bird flu cases can be traced to contact
with dead or infected poultry [EPA]</TD></TR><!-- /TOKEN --></TBODY></TABLE>




<TABLE border=0><TBODY><TR></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A teenager from China's eastern Anhui province has become the country's 15th victim of the bird flu virus, the health ministry officials have said.

The death of a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday night - almost two weeks after developing symptoms of the H5N1 virus - has raised concerns over the country's monitoring standards.

<TABLE border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>This is the 23rd out of 24 human outbreaks in China where we weren't forewarned by a poultry outbreak," Joanna Brent, the World Health Organisation spokeswoman in Beijing, told the AFP news agency.

<TABLE border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE style="DISPLAY: none" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=javascript>bodyVariable300="Htmlphcontrol 2_lblError";</SCRIPT></TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE height=10><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE id=ServicesList style="DISPLAY: inline" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></TD></TR><TR><TD id=tdRelated align=middle></TD></TR><TR><TD height=5></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Health officials said the boy had no history of contact with dead or sick birds, while no outbreaks of the virus among animals had been reported in the province.

In most cases elsewhere around the world, the disease has been traced to either an outbreak amongst animals or contact between the victim and dead or sick animals, Brent said.

In the light of the latest case she urged Chinese officials to strengthen monitoring and surveillance of bird flu among animals.

"This is not consistent with what we are seeing around the world," she said.

Of the 24 patients confirmed with bird flu infections in China since 2003, 15 have died.

The last human death was of a 44-year-old woman in eastern China reported in February.

Scientists say that multiple strains of the disease originated in southern China and spread elsewhere.

Rising toll

The boy's death brings to 170 the number of people who have died from bird flu around the world, but does not include the latest deaths in Indonesia.

On Thursday, Indonesia announced two more deaths from the bird flu virus, taking its human toll to 69, the highest in the world.

Runizar Ruesin, a health ministry official, said one person died on Sumatra island while the other in an army hospital in the capital Jakarta.

"They tested positive in the first test," he said, adding a second was being conducted to confirm initial results.

Most human cases in Indonesia have occurred after contact with sick birds, prompting a ban on keeping backyard chickens in Jakarta in the hope of eradicating human infections this year.

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[Susie]

China Reports Two Human Bird Flu Deaths

Is the second death report new?


China Reports Two Human Bird Flu Deaths
Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu News
Article Date: 30 Mar 2007 - 0:00 PDT
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=66600

Two people have died as a result of bird flu infection with the H5N1 virus strain, the most virulent one, according the Ministry of Health. Both cases were confirmed by a national laboratory.

One of the victims was a 16-year-old boy from Anhui province. He developed pneumonia and was hospitalized on March 20th - he died seven days later. Authorities do not yet know whether he had been in direct contact with sick birds before becoming ill. His relatives and close contacts all seem to be well. We do not have details on the second victim.

There have been 24 confirmed cases of human infection in China, of which 15 have died.

Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus strain will eventually mutate and become easily transmissible from human-to-human. It is still difficult for a person to catch bird flu from a bird - human-to-human infection is extremely rare.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

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[Laidback Al]

Re: China Reports Two Human Bird Flu Deaths

Is the second death report new?


...

One of the victims was a 16-year-old boy from Anhui province. He developed pneumonia and was hospitalized on March 20th - he died seven days later. Authorities do not yet know whether he had been in direct contact with sick birds before becoming ill. His relatives and close contacts all seem to be well. We do not have details on the second victim.
.....

This could be a new individual, or a reporting mistake, or possibly the confirmed hopitalized patient from February.