Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Sally Furniss · Jan 6, 2009

HANOI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A five-year-old Vietnamese girl who ate poultry has been infected with bird flu, the first human case reported in the country this year, state-run television said on Tuesday.

The patient from the northern province of Thanh Hoa has been hospitalised after eating poultry, and dead poultry was also found in her neighbourhood, the Vietnam Television station said in its noon broadcast.

Tests last Saturday confirmed the girl had the H5N1 bird flu virus, it said.

Last month bird flu resurfaced in poultry in the north, killing ducks and chickens.

Five Vietnamese died of bird flu in 2008 out of six reported H5N1 infections and all were found in northern Vietnam during the first quarter of the year, when spring cool temperature allows the virus to thrive best.

The H5N1 strain has killed 247 people globally among the 391 confirmed cases of infection since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.

Before the latest case in Vietnam, WHO said Vietnam had 106 infections, the second highest number of cases among 15 countries with known human cases after Indonesia. (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Sugita Katyal

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN262168.htm

HenryN · Jan 6, 2009

Re: Vietnamese girl in hospital with bird flu

Re: Vietnamese girl in hospital with bird flu

Updated map

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...19.87006,105.913696&spn=0.842073,1.436462&z=9

Gert van der Hoek · Jan 6, 2009

Re: Vietnamese girl in hospital with bird flu

Re: Vietnamese girl in hospital with bird flu

Vietnam girl tests positive for bird flu: health officials

HANOI (AFP) ? A Vietnamese girl has tested positive for bird flu, health officials said Tuesday, in the first reported human case of the deadly virus in the Southeast Asian country since early last year.

The eight-year-old girl from northern Thanh Hoa province fell ill with serious pneumonia on December 27 after eating poultry and was admitted to a provincial hospital on January 2, said health officials.

"The test result was available on (Saturday) January 3," Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the national Preventative Medicine Department, told AFP. "She tested positive for the H5N1 virus."

The girl was now feeling better and was expected to be discharged soon, said Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, acting director of the Thanh Hoa health department.
Recent weeks have seen northern Vietnam gripped by the kind of winter weather conditions that provide a good breeding ground for respiratory infections.

Viruses survive for longer periods in the cold and when they do take hold stand a better chance of spreading from one person to another because of the increased tendency for people to spend time close together inside their homes.

Animal health authorities reported in late December that avian influenza had struck two poultry flocks in northern Vietnam.

Veterinary authorities culled 100 ducks and more than 4,000 chickens, while Vietnam's health ministry issued a nationwide bird flu alert, urging cities and provinces to step up detection and epidemic control measures.

The virulent H5N1 viral strain killed five people in Vietnam in early 2008, but no new human deaths have been reported since last March.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090106/wl_asia_afp/healthfluvietnam_090106083329

HenryN · Jan 6, 2009

Re: Vietnamese girl in hospital with bird flu

Re: Vietnamese girl in hospital with bird flu

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vietnam confirms girl infected with bird flu [/FONT]<HR>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
HANOI, Jan. 6 (PNA/Xinhua) -- An eight-year-old Vietnamese girl from northern Thanh Hoa Province has been infected with bird flu and hospitalized, said an official with the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza here on Tuesday.
The girl had contacted with poultry before being hospitalized, said the official. Specimens from poultry raised by her neighborhood have been recently tested positive to bird flu virus, the official added. This is the first human case reported in the country this year. (PNA/Xinhua)
DCT/mec

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&nid=7&rid=179280[/FONT]

Commonground · Jan 6, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Thanh Hoa: Some patients have influenza A/H5N1

Update: Yesterday, at 21:29 - Source: vnMedia.vn
Below is the cache at http://www.vnmedia.vn/newsdetail.asp?NewsId=153654&CatId=73

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JuzXwE0GBQo/SWP4SMhNVGI/AAAAAAAAAM4/vODRzPUmDSI/s1600-h/Picture+1.png
(VnMedia) - Today (6 / 1), Health Center for Thanh Hoa for patients Bui Thi Thao, 8 years old, in the village of Indonesia, Vietnam Dien, Ba Thuoc District (Thanh Hoa) have been infected influenza A/H5N1.

Patients with Thao manifestation mild fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue from a day 27/12/2008 and treatment at home and in clinics, but not out. To date 2/1/2009, see Thao have difficulty breathing manifestation of the patient was transferred to hospital in Ba Thuoc district. Here, the doctors diagnose patients with pneumonia due to viruses and transferred to the Hospital Thanh Hoa province.

Even in 2 / 1, the form's disease Thao you were sent to the sanitation epidemiology Central to test and had positive results for H5N1. Currently, patients have good progress.

Earlier, in Central Fill with the dead birds scattered in 6 / 12 villages. 6 households in the surrounding Thao you have been sick birds, dead. Especially family child Thao also has 9 children chickens, Muscovy ducks died, the family has 4 children meat to eat, the remaining network buried.

Department of preventive health, hygiene and the epidemiology central coordination with local direct investigation process outbreak, organizations spend h the entire number of poultry outbreaks have in the number of 527 children and the relatives continued destruction of poultry in the village with sick poultry, died; pepper spray chemicals in khử represents 151 households in the village Delete. Health Center for Thanh Hoa province has collected 40 samples of objects direct contact with patients and 8 samples of poultry in order to send test.

Commonground · Jan 6, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Vietnam: Alert to avian influenza

Tue, 06/01/2009 - 06:10 "GMT +7

With the weather is cold to extend the current defined as favorable conditions for the H5N1 virus developed. Indeed in some southern provinces have appeared at special poultry positive with H5N1 virus.

Through hundreds of test serum samples taken at a poultry have been vaccinated, the rate of resistance to reach the level of protection in very low. Especially recently agencies detected in Thai Nguyen incurred a flu outbreak on flocks thousand including 148 children.

At present consumption needs of the poultry population is increasing rapidly, especially on festival occasions Ky Sưu coming. While the control slaughter, transport, trade, illegal import of poultry through the border is still a lot split and not highly effective. Moreover, by no longer have to translate all the people, government establishments and agencies have the stars nhang, lo, is to prevent disease for cattle and poultry. Therefore we can say the risk of re B?ng of HPAI lơ lửng still suspended, threatened production platforms and people's health.

We had too many lessons in the season and before. Many of the ideas such as safety, immune disease, but still B?ng play, causing heavy damage to livestock. This can only be explained as due to the owners of the people and lack of active, positive government establishments and agencies.

To prevent and deter effective HPAI re Gender in the province today is in addition to enhancing the sense of alert and prevention for people, all levels of government and industry must function test, review all the flocks of cattle and poultry available, if not vaccinated must be conducted to thoroughly vaccinated, data volume, the nose, with poultry have been vaccinated to check the level of protection or higher low for solutions. What people expect more this year as construction of slaughter concentration of control of animal health promotion should be more urgently, quickly bringing products to the market to serve people . One important issue is to have more measures to prevent them thoroughly illegal import of poultry through the border, if not the germs will spread to poultry in the province and in-depth local.

Impact, negative impacts of HPAI is very big, so everyone knows, so must efforts to prevent, deter and must start from the awareness, awareness of these actions, the tools can.

Commonground · Jan 6, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Vietnam: Appear patient influenza A H5N1

07-01-2009 00:03:28 GMT +7
Quang Nam: More than 400 ducks died unknown causes
(NLD) - Department of Health and the Ministry of Health 6-1 days notice has detected an infection of influenza A H5N1 after nearly 10 months to control the disease this

The patient is a baby girl 8 years old, live in Dien Trung, Ba Thuoc district - Thanh Hoa, patients started on 27-12-2008. Blood test products on patients 3-1 for positive results for influenza A H5N1 virus. At the patient's condition temporarily stabilized. Before starting a week sick, sick children and families eat infected birds.

. Meanwhile, from 1-1 to now, two flocks of ducks than 400 families of 2 in Tam Tien, Nui Thanh district - Vietnam has died unknown causes. Some families in the commune also has chickens, ducks died.

Giuseppe · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

WHO | Avian influenza ? situation in Viet Nam

Avian influenza ? situation in Viet Nam

The Ministry of Health in Viet Nam has reported a new confirmed case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

The case has been confirmed at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).

The case is an 8-year old girl from Dien Trung commune, Ba Thuoc district, Thanh Hoa province.

She developed symptoms on 27 December 2008 and was hospitalized on 2 January 2009.

She is currently in a stable condition.

The case is known to have had recent contact with sick and dead poultry prior to the onset of her illness.

Further investigations are currently underway.

Control measures have been implemented and close contacts are being identified and monitored.

Of the 107 cases confirmed to date in Viet Nam, 52 have been fatal.
-

<cite cite="http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_01_07/en/index.html">WHO | Avian influenza ? situation in Viet Nam</cite>

Commonground · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Vietnam: Detect a case of influenza A/H5N1 infection

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JuzXwE0GBQo/SWTIQo8N-nI/AAAAAAAAANQ/nAW1yaQenWc/s1600-h/Picture+3.png
Contact with poultry must be finished washing your hands clean. (Photo: VNN)

After 10 months ang yen, on 6 / 1, Department of Health and the Environment (Ministry of Health) has officially notified of a new infection influenza A/H5N1.

-snip-

Laidback Al · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

The maps below show the location of <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CAlan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style>  </style>huyện B? Thước (Ba Thuoc District) where the young girl is from. (The approximate centroid for this district is 20.3754, 105.2481). The location of the commune, <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CAlan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style>  </style>Điền Trung, in this district is uncertain. <style>!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style>

Sally Furniss · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

The case is an 8-year old girl from Dien Trung commune, Ba Thuoc district, Thanh Hoa province.
She developed symptoms on 27 December 2008 and was hospitalized on 2 January 2009.
She is currently in a stable condition.

13-year-old sister
Suspected death from bid flu but no samples for tests
developed high fever and severe cough on Dec. 25 and died in the district hospital on Jan 2.

Vietnam H5N1 patient's sister dies with flu symptoms
08 Jan 2009 02:26:56 GMT
 Source: Reuters

 <script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.alertnet.org/bin/js/article.js"></script> <input value="13" name="CurrentSize" id="CurrentSize" type="hidden">   HANOI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The sister of Vietnam's first confirmed bird flu patient of the year died with flu symptoms last week, and the director of the district hospital where she was treated said she probably also had avian flu.

"We suspect that it was bird flu that caused her death, but we cannot be 100 percent sure because there was no sample for tests. At the time we thought her illness was something else," Truong Thi Mau, director of the Ba Thuoc district hospital, told Reuters. Ba Thuoc is about 150 km (94 miles) south of Hanoi in Thanh Hoa province.

Earlier this week, authorities confirmed that the 13-year-old girl's younger sister was in hospital with an H5N1 virus infection. Both girls had eaten duck and chicken raised on her family's farm, Mau said. The 13-year-old girl developed high fever and severe cough on Dec. 25 and died in the district hospital on Jan. 2, Mau said. Her 8-year-old sister was still in hospital.

Five Vietnamese people died of bird flu in 2008 out of six reported H5N1 infections, all in the north of the country in the first quarter of the year, when cool temperatures allow the virus to thrive best. The H5N1 strain has killed 247 people globally among the 391 confirmed cases of infection since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Before the latest case in Vietnam, the WHO said Vietnam had had 106 human infections, the second highest number among 15 countries with known human cases after Indonesia.
(Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam; Editing by John Ruwitch and Alex Richardson)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN342476.htm

Sally Furniss · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1

Translated from Vietnamese

She's the baby was infected H5N1 deaths

TT (Thanh Hoa) - The 7-1, Mr. Bui Van Contract - stay in the Indonesia, Vietnam Dien district mountainous Ba Thuoc, Thanh Hoa - said on 25-12-2008 daughter of his family he is BTTh. (13 years old, her daughter's baby BTT - 8 years old, infected with influenza A H5N1) have symptoms of fever, cough, difficulty breathing should be brought to the family clinic in, and then onto Hospital Ba Thuoc treatment. But due to the serious illness, the child of morning 2-1-2009. has died at the hospital district.

The baby 27-12-2008 to BTT also have similar symptoms as her daughter, the family 2-1 days bringing the baby T. to the Provincial Hospital for treatment research. Then, through the blood test patient's baby, born about epidemiology central confirm baby T. positive for H5N1. After five days of treatment in isolation rooms specifically, 7-1 to the health of the baby T. is good progress. Ministry T. have food, drink, travel and sitting up talking to people.

Mr. Lo Van Up - Vice Chairman of People's Ba Thuoc district - for the last 7-1 days, the district has organized all over 9000 influenza outbreaks in the region of six villages belonging to Fill in China.

http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=296508&ChannelID=3

Sally Furniss · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Vietnamese girl dies of suspected bird flu

HANOI, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A 13-year-old Vietnamese girl from northern Thanh Hoa province has died with symptoms similar to bird flu patients, the local newspaper Pioneer reported on Thursday.

The girl named Bui Thi Thuong had eaten poultry raised by her own family before passing away, the newspaper quoted her father Bui Van Hop as saying.

Thuong was taken to the provincial Ba Thuoc hospital after developing such symptoms as high temperature, coughing, and having difficulty in breathing, said the newspaper. She died at the hospital on Jan. 2.

Her 8-year-old sister Bui Thi Thao, who was confirmed of bird flu infection by the Vietnamese National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza on Tuesday, now is recovering, said the newspaper.

Thao is in a stable condition and able to eat, walk and talk, said the newspaper.
Specimens from poultry raised in Thanh Hoa province have recently been tested positive to bird flu virus. The provincial authorities have culled about 9,000 poultry to prevent further spread of the disease, said the newspaper

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/08/content_10623006.htm

Laidback Al · Jan 7, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Timeline for family cluster from Điền Trung, Bá Thước district, Thanh Hoa

1. Index Case: Bui Thi Thuong (13F) (not tested)

Onset 12/25/2008

Hospital Admission 12/31/2008

Death January/2/2008

2. Bui Thi Thao (8F), sister of Bui Thi Thuong (confirmed H5N1)

Onset 12/27/2008

Hospital Admission January/2/2008

Recovering

Laidback Al · Jan 8, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Sister of Vietnam bird flu patient dies: health official

 HANOI (AFP) ? The sister of a Vietnamese bird flu patient died in hospital last week, health officials said Thursday, while denying the virus was to blame, even though no tests were carried out before she was buried.
Authorities earlier this week reported Vietnam's first human case of bird flu since early last year, saying tests had shown the eight-year-old girl had contracted the H5N1 virus and adding that she was recovering well.
On Thursday, several state newspapers reported that the girl's 13-year-old sister had died last Friday, just days after both girls had eaten poultry dishes in their family home in northern Thanh Hoa province.
When contacted by AFP, a provincial health official ruled out the possibility that avian influenza had caused the 13-year-old sister's death.
The elder girl "had an infection and diarrhoea, not like bird flu," said Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, acting director of the provincial health department. "We did not take her samples for tests, and we will not."
State media reports said the family of the two girls had prepared and eaten chicken and duck dishes some days before they both fell ill.
Vietnam's national animal health department confirmed a bird flu outbreak in poultry near the girls' house, but only after the human case was reported.
Truong Thi Mau, director of the Ba Thuoc district hospital, told AFP that the 13-year-old sister was hospitalised on the night of Wednesday, December 31 and died two days later in the intensive care section.
"Her symptoms were a stomach ache, very high fever and diarrhoea," said Mau. "We suspected she had malaria or dengue fever ... We did not think of bird flu because we haven't had bird flu outbreaks in our area for some time."
According to the World Health Organisation, initial symptoms of bird flu include a high fever and influenza-like symptoms while other early signs of the virus include diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal and chest pain.
"I don't know about whether the preventive health care workers will take her samples for testing because the family has already buried her body. But when she died, we did not take a blood sample for further testing," said Mau.
The eight-year-old girl was only admitted to a district hospital after her elder sister had died and was quickly taken to a larger provincial hospital after an X-ray showed damage to her lungs, she said.
A third child -- a five-year-old boy living next door to the girls' family who had also eaten chicken and duck dishes -- was being treated for respiratory symptoms in the district hospital, said Mau.
"However, he had only normal pneumonia and we received an answer from the provincial level that he is negative for bird flu," she added. "He will be discharged from hospital today as he is OK now."
The virulent H5N1 viral strain killed five people in Vietnam in early 2008, but no new human deaths have been reported since last March.
The World Health Organisation has since 2003 confirmed 393 human cases of bird flu, not including the latest Vietnam case, of whom 248 have died.
Vietnam has confirmed 52 bird flu deaths, the second highest toll after Indonesia, where the virus has killed 113 people.
Bird flu mainly kills animals, but scientists fear it could mutate to jump easily from human to human, potentially sparking a global pandemic.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090108/wl_asia_afp/healthfluvietnam_newsmlmmd

HenryN · Jan 8, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Laidback Al said:
Sister of Vietnam bird flu patient dies: health official

HANOI (AFP) ? The sister of a Vietnamese bird flu patient died in hospital last week, health officials said Thursday, while denying the virus was to blame, even though no tests were carried out before she was buried.
The eight-year-old girl was only admitted to a district hospital after her elder sister had died and was quickly taken to a larger provincial hospital after an X-ray showed damage to her lungs, she said.
A third child -- a five-year-old boy living next door to the girls' family who had also eaten chicken and duck dishes -- was being treated for respiratory symptoms in the district hospital, said Mau.
"However, he had only normal pneumonia and we received an answer from the provincial level that he is negative for bird flu," she added. "He will be discharged from hospital today as he is OK now."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090108/wl_asia_afp/healthfluvietnam_newsmlmmd

Cluster with no sample from index case and recovery of third case who developed pneumonia but tested negative is SOP for cluster.

HenryN · Jan 8, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Updated map

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...l=20.689323,105.3479&spn=2.42541,2.966309&z=8

HenryN · Jan 8, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01080901/H5N1_Thanh_Hoa_3.html

AlaskaDenise · Jan 8, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

niman said:
Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01080901/H5N1_Thanh_Hoa_3.html

Commentary

Fatal H5N1 Cluster in Thanh Hoa Vietnam Raises Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 07:33
January 8, 2009

said on 25-12-2008 daughter of his family he is BTTh. (13 years old, her daughter's baby BTT - 8 years old, infected with influenza A H5N1) have symptoms of fever, cough, difficulty breathing should be brought to the family clinic in, and then onto Hospital Ba Thuoc treatment. But due to the serious illness, the child of morning 2-1-2009. has died at the hospital district.

A third child -- a five-year-old boy living next door to the girls' family who had also eaten chicken and duck dishes -- was being treated for respiratory symptoms in the district hospital, said Mau.

"However, he had only normal pneumonia and we received an answer from the provincial level that he is negative for bird flu," she added. "He will be discharged from hospital today as he is OK now."

The above translation and comments describe two additional patients associated with the confirmed H5N1 case (8F) in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam (see satellite map) and suggest the fatally infected index (13F) case infected her sister and neighbor (5M).

The index case was taken to the family clinic on December 25, suggesting disease onset was several days earlier. Her sister (8F) developed symptoms on December 27, but was not hospitalized until her sister (13F) died on January 2. The disease onset date for the neighbor is not known, but since he is still hospitalized, his history is likely to be similar to the confirmed case, who is also recovering and will likely be discharged soon. Although he tested negative, false negatives are common and a test of convalescent antibodies, which should be from a serum sample collected a week or two after discharge, is warranted.

This cluster is cause for concern. The index case was not tested, even though her sister developed symptoms a week before the index case died. The neighbor tested negative, but was likely on Tamiflu because one neighbor died with bird flu symptoms and another tested positive for H5N1. The collection date of the negative sample, relative to the start of Tamiflu treatment is not described.

This cluster in Vietnam follows a cluster in Beijing. In that cluster the index case died and was H5N1 confirmed. A nurse developed symptoms and one media report indicated she had bird flu, but recovered. It is likely that the cluster was associated with clade 7, which was confirmed in Jiangsu outbreaks last month. The OIE report on the bird outbreaks indicated the infected birds were asymptomatic.

In August, clade 7 was also reported in Vietnam, raising concerns that the current cluster is also linked to clade 7. The proposed WHO vaccine target for clade 7 is from Vietnam and is likely from the August outbreak.

Sequence data from the clusters in China and Vietnam as well as poultry outbreaks would be useful.

.

Giuseppe · Jan 8, 2009

Re: Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Vietnam bird flu patient's sister had same symptoms | Reuters

Vietnam bird flu patient's sister had same symptoms

Wed Jan 7, 2009 11:30pm EST

* Bird flu patient's sister dies in Vietnam
* Vietnam second behind Indonesia on bird flu deaths
* Beijing may lift bird flu alert by Jan. 12
By Nguyen Nhat Lam
HANOI, Jan 8 (Reuters) -

The sister of Vietnam's first confirmed bird flu patient of the year died with similar symptoms last week and the director of the hospital where she was treated said she probably also had avian flu.

"We suspect that it was bird flu that caused her death," said Truong Thi Mau, director of the Ba Thuoc district hospital.

"But we can't be 100 percent sure because there was no sample for tests. At the time we thought her illness was something else," Mau said by telephone from Ba Thuoc, about 150 km (95 miles) south of Hanoi in Thanh Hoa province.

Earlier this week, Vietnamese authorities said the 13-year-old girl's younger sister was in hospital with an H5N1 virus infection.

Both girls had eaten duck and chicken raised on the family farm, Mau said.

The 13-year-old developed a high fever and severe cough on Dec. 25 and died in the district hospital on Jan. 2, Mau said.

After her 8-year-old sister was confirmed to be infected with H5N1, about 50 children with flu symptoms were brought in by nervous parents in the area but tests for avian influenza were negative on all of them, she said.

Five Vietnamese people died of bird flu in 2008 out of six reported H5N1 infections, all in the north of the country in the first quarter of the year, when cooler temperatures allow the virus to thrive.

The H5N1 strain has killed 247 people globally among the 391 confirmed cases since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Before the latest case in Vietnam, the WHO said Vietnam had had 106 human infections, the second highest after Indonesia among 15 countries with known human cases.

NO HUMAN-HUMAN TRANSMISSION
Health authorities in Beijing said this week that a 19-year-old woman died of H5N1 after coming into contact with poultry. It was China's first case in almost a year.

Chinese state media on Thursday quoted Deng Xiaohong, spokeswoman for the Beijing Health Bureau, as saying the city's bird flu alert would probably be lifted by Jan. 12 if people who had contact with the dead woman did not fall sick themselves.

But Deng said further suspected human cases could not be ruled out, and authorities had designated two city hospitals to treat any bird flu patients.

"At present there is no biological basis for human-to-human transmission, so there is almost no posibility of human-to-human transmission in Beijing. I hope everyone in the city can rest easy," Deng told state television.

The virus mostly affects birds, but experts fear it could mutate and become easily transmitted from person to person, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions of people worldwide.

In Vietnam, the authorities have confirmed outbreaks among poultry in two areas near Hanoi, including Ba Thuoc, where nearly 8,000 poultry had been slaughtered to prevent it from spreading.

In China, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday it had found no bird flu cases amongst poultry in Beijing or areas surrounding the city where the 19-year-old woman had died.

(Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam in Hanoi and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by John Ruwitch; Editing by Alan Raybould)
-

<cite cite="http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSPEK353409">Vietnam bird flu patient's sister had same symptoms | Reuters</cite>

Vietnam: Girl,8, Hospitalized with H5N1. Sister died of suspected H5N1

Well-known member

Retired

In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator

Retired

Senior Moderator

Senior Moderator

Senior Moderator

Emeritus

Senior Moderator

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Retired

Retired

Retired

In Memoriam

Emeritus