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AVIAN FLU: Victim ?didn?t have contact? with birds Published on November 02, 2005
Disease expert says woman contracted H5N1 virus from ?the environment?. The woman who became the latest confirmed case of human bird-flu contracted the H5N1 virus from ?the environment? rather than from infected birds, the Public Health Ministry said yesterday.
Dr Thawat Suntharachan, director-general of the ministry?s Disease Control Department, said the 50-year-old woman was confirmed on Monday as the twentieth case of bird flu in Thailand since 2003. He said the victim was the eighth person to contract the virus without touching a dead chicken.
The seven previous cases were reported last year.
Dr Kumnuan Ungchusak, head of the Bureau of Epidemiology, said six of those were children who might have caught the virus while playing near infected chicken faeces or fluids. The adult who caught the virus last year without coming into contact with dead chickens was infected in the same way as the latest case, he said.
The latest victim lived in Bangkok but she was believed to have contracted the virus in Nonthaburi province, where her husband raised poultry that had fallen sick. Thawat said the woman told epidemiologists investigating the case that she did not touch any dead chickens while she was in Nonthaburi.
Her husband, Visan Chaowangyen, said he raised about 30 fighting cocks and bantams in his backyard. When some of them died, he decided to cull the rest because he suspected that they might have been infected with the avian-flu virus.
He said he did not report the deaths to authorities as required because he thought culling the infected poultry and burying them properly was enough.
Visan said he was aware that he could have contracted the virus while burying the dead poultry, so he wrapped his hands in plastic bags before touching the dead animals.
Although he was in good health, doctors prescribed 10 anti-viral Tamiflu tablets for him to take as a preventive measure.
Visan said he was away when his wife went to the Nonthaburi house to visit him, Thawat said.
After visiting the house, the woman became ill, tired and found it difficult to breath. She later went to see doctors at Siriraj Hospital because she thought she might have bird flu.
Dr Kumnuan went to the house in Nonthaburi and said it was very likely that the woman contracted the virus either through exposure to infected faeces around the house or from eating fruit that she had picked up off the ground.
There were strains of chicken faeces on a makeshift wooden stretcher that she sat on while she waited for her husband.
Next to the stretcher was a small pond of filthy water containing chicken faeces. The woman admitted to eating a piece of fruit that fell from the ground after cleaning it with the dirty water.
Two other patients are also suspected of contracting the virus, including a 4-year-old girl from Phichit who yesterday tested positive to H3N2 virus of human influenza, not the H5N1, Thawat said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday vented his anger at Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Pensri Pichaisanith for telling reporters on Monday that both the woman and the girl had bird flu.
anne : it's an old article of the Nation/ november 2005/ in thailande.
I think it's some interest.
AVIAN FLU: Victim ?didn?t have contact? with birds Published on November 02, 2005
Disease expert says woman contracted H5N1 virus from ?the environment?. The woman who became the latest confirmed case of human bird-flu contracted the H5N1 virus from ?the environment? rather than from infected birds, the Public Health Ministry said yesterday.
Dr Thawat Suntharachan, director-general of the ministry?s Disease Control Department, said the 50-year-old woman was confirmed on Monday as the twentieth case of bird flu in Thailand since 2003. He said the victim was the eighth person to contract the virus without touching a dead chicken.
The seven previous cases were reported last year.
Dr Kumnuan Ungchusak, head of the Bureau of Epidemiology, said six of those were children who might have caught the virus while playing near infected chicken faeces or fluids. The adult who caught the virus last year without coming into contact with dead chickens was infected in the same way as the latest case, he said.
The latest victim lived in Bangkok but she was believed to have contracted the virus in Nonthaburi province, where her husband raised poultry that had fallen sick. Thawat said the woman told epidemiologists investigating the case that she did not touch any dead chickens while she was in Nonthaburi.
Her husband, Visan Chaowangyen, said he raised about 30 fighting cocks and bantams in his backyard. When some of them died, he decided to cull the rest because he suspected that they might have been infected with the avian-flu virus.
He said he did not report the deaths to authorities as required because he thought culling the infected poultry and burying them properly was enough.
Visan said he was aware that he could have contracted the virus while burying the dead poultry, so he wrapped his hands in plastic bags before touching the dead animals.
Although he was in good health, doctors prescribed 10 anti-viral Tamiflu tablets for him to take as a preventive measure.
Visan said he was away when his wife went to the Nonthaburi house to visit him, Thawat said.
After visiting the house, the woman became ill, tired and found it difficult to breath. She later went to see doctors at Siriraj Hospital because she thought she might have bird flu.
Dr Kumnuan went to the house in Nonthaburi and said it was very likely that the woman contracted the virus either through exposure to infected faeces around the house or from eating fruit that she had picked up off the ground.
There were strains of chicken faeces on a makeshift wooden stretcher that she sat on while she waited for her husband.
Next to the stretcher was a small pond of filthy water containing chicken faeces. The woman admitted to eating a piece of fruit that fell from the ground after cleaning it with the dirty water.
Two other patients are also suspected of contracting the virus, including a 4-year-old girl from Phichit who yesterday tested positive to H3N2 virus of human influenza, not the H5N1, Thawat said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday vented his anger at Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Pensri Pichaisanith for telling reporters on Monday that both the woman and the girl had bird flu.
anne : it's an old article of the Nation/ november 2005/ in thailande.
I think it's some interest.