Re: Brain surgery for WHO head
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Here is the update from Bloomberg.
UN Agency's Lee Will Miss Talks on Pandemic Plans After Stroke
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/newspid=10000080&sid=agWmjdwcR6a8&refer=asia
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Talks at the World Health Assembly this week aimed at galvanizing a global response to a threatened influenza pandemic may be hindered by the sudden illness of the World Health Organization's director-general, Lee Jong-Wook.
Lee, 61, is recovering from surgery after suffering a stroke, the United Nations agency said yesterday in a statement. He will remain in the hospital for several days and miss the annual key policy-setting meeting in Geneva on May 22-27, to be attended by delegates from 192 countries, the WHO said.
``Dr. Lee suddenly fell ill this afternoon while he was attending an official function,'' the WHO said in its statement. ``He was taken to hospital by ambulance. Examination by medical staff determined that he required surgery in order to remove a blood clot on his brain.''
Strengthening pandemic-influenza preparedness and response is one of the assembly's top agenda items as health officials worry the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu circulating in parts of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa may mutate into a form that's easily spread among people.
The lack of a clear cause for H5N1 infections in as many as seven members of an Indonesian family this month is unnerving authorities who are attempting to rule out the possibility that the virus was transmitted from person to person.
Avian flu could spark a pandemic if it spreads easily among people. Humans have no natural immunity to it, making it likely that people who contract any pandemic flu based on that strain will become more seriously ill than when infected by seasonal flu.
Experts at WHO and elsewhere believe that the world is now closer to another flu pandemic than at any time since 1968, when the last of the previous century's three pandemics occurred.
Killer Virus
While previous pandemics have killed no more than 2 percent to 3 percent of those infected, more than half those known to have contracted H5N1 influenza have died.
Fatalities from H5N1 in the first five months of this year have surpassed 2005 levels as the virus spread to animals in more than 30 countries on three continents. At least 123 of the 217 people known to be infected with avian flu worldwide have died since 2003, the WHO said on May 19.
Almost all human H5N1 cases have been linked to close contact with sick or dead birds, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or taking off feathers, according to the WHO. Cooking meat and eggs properly kills the virus.
Burkina Faso, Romania
In the west African nation of Burkina Faso, avian flu was found in poultry in three more locations, including the main cities of Ougadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday, citing Animal Resources Minister Tiemoko Konate.
Also yesterday, authorities in central and northern Romania reported two suspected outbreaks of avian flu after two districts of the capital Bucharest were sealed off pending tests on birds there, AFP said in a separate report.
A laboratory in Bucharest confirmed the presence of an H5 avian flu subtype, which may include H5N1, in three chickens found dead in a backyard in the popular tourist city of Sibiu in central Romania, AFP reported, citing city council spokesman Dorin Teodorescu.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jason Gale in Singapore at
j.gale@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 20, 2006 23:09 EDT
