Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

[Theresa42]

Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO
19 Sep 2006 11:17:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

GENEVA, Sept 19 (Retuers) - A three-year-old Iraqi boy in Baghdad has been confirmed as having survived a mild case of bird flu last March, the first confirmed human infection in the capital, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"The Ministry of Health in Iraq has retrospectively confirmed the country's third case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus," the WHO said in a statement.

Initial testing on samples taken from the boy had been inconclusive, possibly due to their deterioration during shipment, but repeated tests using different methods has confirmed the presence of the virus, according to the United Nations health agency.

Iraqi officials said in March that the H5N1 virus had been found in poultry in Baghdad, but to date there had been no human case confirmed in the war-ravaged capital.

An Iraqi teenage girl and her uncle, both of whom died in January in the northern province of Sulaimaniya, were the country's first known human cases.

The WHO said on Tuesday that Iraq's outbreak was "now considered over".

The disease affects mainly animals but experts fear the virus could mutate into a pandemic strain capable of killing millions of people.

The latest confirmed case brings the global total to 247 cases in 10 countries since 2003, with 144 deaths, WHO said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19916672.htm

 

[Theresa42]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

From a previous thread:

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=843678

Human case of bird flu discovered in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, March 29 (KUNA) -- A new human case of bird flu was discovered in Al-Sadr City in Baghdad, announced an Iraqi official on Wednesday.

Spokesperson for the High Committee for Bird Flu Dr. Ibtesam Ali said in a statement that a patient was admitted to hospital with avian flu symptoms, noting that blood samples were drawn from the patient for lab work.

Dr. Ali added that blood samples were also taken from people with direct contact with the patient to make sure that they are not infected with the disease, while veterinary teams took random samples from hens that came close to the patient to perform lab work and follow necessary procedures.

The spokesperson noted that a member of the same family of the patient died with suspicions of bird flu disease, while another family member had symptoms of the disease in the area of Kamaliya in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the source said that three-year-old Haydar Razzaq Hussein fully recovered from the disease and is living a normal life, while medical teams took blood samples from family members and executed all birds around the area.

She noted that lab work in Baghdad showed a bird infected with the avian flu virus, noting that additional lab work will be performed outside Iraq for further verifications. (end) ahh.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3220

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Here is the information on the, now, three WHO confirmed Iraq cases from earlier this year. There were two other individuals referenced in the WHO updates from Iraq including a 13 year old male who died. The most recent WHO update (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_09_19/en/index.html) implies, but does not state, that there were no further positive samples from tests in Iraq.

The WHO update from February (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_17/en/index.html) indicates that 15 human samples tested negative, but they were also waiting to test a second set of samples. I don't the believe the results of those tests were published by WHO.


H5N1 Individual Case Report
________________________________________________________________________________________
caseid:154
Country:Iraq
City and Region:Raniya, Sulaimaniyah
Name:Sanjin (Shangen) Abdelkadir (Abdul Qader)
Sex:F
Age:15
Symptom onset:1/10/2006
Hospital Admission:1/17/2006
Death:1/17/2006
Outcome:D
WHO confirmed:Yes
Report DateHyperlink
1/30/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_01_30a/en/index.html
2/17/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_17/en/index.html
7/10/2006http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/retro06-avfludeaths-country.html

________________________________________________________________________________________
caseid:156
Country:Iraq
City and Region:Raniya, Sulaimaniyah
Name:
Sex:F
Age:54
Symptom onset:
Hospital Admission:1/18/2006
Death:
Outcome:UNK
WHO confirmed:No
Report DateHyperlink
1/30/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_01_30a/en/index.html
________________________________________________________________________________________
caseid:155
Country:Iraq
City and Region:Raniya, Sulaimaniyah
Name:Hamasour (Muhammed) Abdulla
Sex:M
Age:39
Symptom onset:1/24/2006
Hospital Admission:
Death:1/27/2006
Outcome:D
WHO confirmed:Yes
Report DateHyperlink
1/30/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_01_30a/en/index.html
2/17/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_17/en/index.html
7/10/2006http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/retro06-avfludeaths-country.html

________________________________________________________________________________________
caseid:157
Country:Iraq
City and Region:Omara
Name:
Sex:M
Age:13
Symptom onset:2/1/2006
Hospital Admission:2/5/2006
Death:2/5/2006
Outcome:D
WHO confirmed:No
Report DateHyperlink
2/7/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_07/en/index.html
________________________________________________________________________________________
caseid:476
Country:Iraq
City and Region:Al-Sadr City, Baghdad
Name:Haydar Razzaq Hussein
Sex:M
Age:3
Symptom onset:
Hospital Admission:3/15/2006
Death:
Outcome:R
WHO confirmed:Yes
Report DateHyperlink
9/19/2006http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_09_19/en/index.html
9/19/2006http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32009&postcount=1

 

[Sharpe]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Theresa, do you know what the original translated articles said about this case?

 

[Theresa42]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Theresa, do you know what the original translated articles said about this case?

Sorry. Didn't have any Iraqi news about this case at the time. The news outta Iraq was so patchy and vague, unfortunately. I could also have missed it, of course.

 

[Theresa42]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Is this 3 year-old part of a cluster...?

H5N1 bird flu found in Baghdad suburb as man hospitalised
29 March 2006

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Birds in one Baghdad district have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, while a man in another part of the capital has been hospitalised with symptoms.

Samples taken from birds in the Kamamaliya district tested positive for H5N1, Ibtisam Aziz, spokeswoman for the government' bird flu committee, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The tests were conducted after a man who died earlier this week was suspected of having bird flue. A member of the man's family, who suffered from similar symptoms, later recovered, she added. [Is this the 3 year old, then? In other words, do we have another cluster here?]

Meanwhile, a man from the outskirts of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Sadr City was admitted to hospital.

"The Ministry of Health informed us that a patient has been admitted to a hospital after he was suspected of having bird flu," the statement said.

Aziz said government medical teams had taken samples from him, from people close to him and birds from the vicinity.

Iraq has till now confirmed two cases of H5N1, both of which were from the northern Kurdish Sulaimaniyah region.

http://tinyurl.com/mn5pc

 

[Sharpe]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Is this 3 year-old part of a cluster...?

Good job, Theresa. That was my hunch. I've begun to notice that every confirmed case in the world is identified due to it's being part of a cluster, and just wanted to see if it was the same in Iraq.

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Would this be a cluster of three cases in Baghdad? The child was reported to be from Al-Sadr City, as is the third suspected case noted in the quote. The text implies that case 1 was from Kamamaliya district (Kamaliya??), also in Baghdad, where the H5N1 birds were discovered. Maybe the recovered individual (case 2) is not the recent confirmed case.

Is this 3 year-old part of a cluster...?

H5N1 bird flu found in Baghdad suburb as man hospitalised
29 March 2006

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Birds in one Baghdad district have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, while a man in another part of the capital has been hospitalised with symptoms.

Samples taken from birds in the Kamamaliya district tested positive for H5N1, Ibtisam Aziz, spokeswoman for the government' bird flu committee, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The tests were conducted after a man who died earlier this week (case 1) was suspected of having bird flue. A member of the man's family, who suffered from similar symptoms, later recovered, (case 2) she added. [Is this the 3 year old, then? In other words, do we have another cluster here?]

Meanwhile, a man from the outskirts of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Sadr City was admitted to hospital (case 3).

"The Ministry of Health informed us that a patient has been admitted to a hospital after he was suspected of having bird flu," the statement said.

Aziz said government medical teams had taken samples from him, from people close to him and birds from the vicinity.

Iraq has till now confirmed two cases of H5N1, both of which were from the northern Kurdish Sulaimaniyah region.

http://tinyurl.com/mn5pc

 

[Theresa42]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Would this be a cluster of three cases in Baghdad? The child was reported to be from Al-Sadr City, as is the third suspected case noted in the quote. The text implies that case 1 was from Kamamaliya district (Kamaliya??), also in Baghdad, where the H5N1 birds were discovered. Maybe the recovered individual (case 2) is not the recent confirmed case.

You are probably right, Al. I was trying to get my head around the cases listed in this article, but it made not sense to me earlier. The only reason I questioned if case 2 was the 3 year-old was because I was looking for a recovered case -- doesn't have to be the 3 year-old at all.

So, what the article above talks about is 3 cases (that you've numbered):

- case 1 and 2 related from Kamaliya district -- case 1 died while case 2 recovered;
- case 3, a man from Sadr (Al Sadr) district, who was hospitalized (who knows whatever happened to him);

And, now we have the 3 year-old -- probably case 4 -- who recovered and now, retrospectively, has tested pos for H5N1. He is also from Sadr (Al Sadr) district. (Wonder if he's any relation to case 3?)

 

[Theresa42]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Map of Baghdad -- Al Sadr city is to the north in the Adhamiya region -- Kamaliya is to the east in the Nissan region.

Al Sadr:
http://judicial-inc.biz/falluh21.jpg

Fedhailia, Kamaliya [#35 on the map following the link]:
http://tinyurl.com/zgsxp

View attachment 741

 

[Theresa42]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

I've begun to notice that every confirmed case in the world is identified due to it's being part of a cluster, and just wanted to see if it was the same in Iraq.

No kidding, huh?! I've started to work under that assumption now, too.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

You are probably right, Al. I was trying to get my head around the cases listed in this article, but it made not sense to me earlier. The only reason I questioned if case 2 was the 3 year-old was because I was looking for a recovered case -- doesn't have to be the 3 year-old at all.

So, what the article above talks about is 3 cases (that you've numbered):

- case 1 and 2 related from Kamaliya district -- case 1 died while case 2 recovered;
- case 3, a man from Sadr (Al Sadr) district, who was hospitalized (who knows whatever happened to him);

And, now we have the 3 year-old -- probably case 4 -- who recovered and now, retrospectively, has tested pos for H5N1. He is also from Sadr (Al Sadr) district. (Wonder if he's any relation to case 3?)

The WHO update indocates the 3 year old became sick March 15, so it seems that the three year old is case 2 (cluster membership probably required for testing - 3 y.o probably tested because he was a contact of case 1 above, who died).

 

[HenryN]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Good job, Theresa. That was my hunch. I've begun to notice that every confirmed case in the world is identified due to it's being part of a cluster, and just wanted to see if it was the same in Iraq.

Yes. th emajority of index cases for countries are part of a cluster. For Iraq the first case died as did her uncle (in Northern Iraq). It was shortly after the Turkey outbreak, and one physician indocated that the case had symptoms that matrched the initial fatalities in Turkey.

WHO issued a denial, but when the girl's uncle died also, the denials didn't hold up (and both cases were subsequently confirmed).

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01210601/H5N1_Iraq_Clinical.html

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01310602/H5N1_Iraq_Cluster.html

 

[HenryN]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

You are probably right, Al. I was trying to get my head around the cases listed in this article, but it made not sense to me earlier. The only reason I questioned if case 2 was the 3 year-old was because I was looking for a recovered case -- doesn't have to be the 3 year-old at all.

So, what the article above talks about is 3 cases (that you've numbered):

- case 1 and 2 related from Kamaliya district -- case 1 died while case 2 recovered;
- case 3, a man from Sadr (Al Sadr) district, who was hospitalized (who knows whatever happened to him);

And, now we have the 3 year-old -- probably case 4 -- who recovered and now, retrospectively, has tested pos for H5N1. He is also from Sadr (Al Sadr) district. (Wonder if he's any relation to case 3?)

Avian influenza ? situation in Iraq - update 5
19 September 2006
The Ministry of Health in Iraq has retrospectively confirmed the country?s third case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case, a 3-year-old boy, was hospitalized in Baghdad on 15 March 2006. His illness was mild and he fully recovered.
During its outbreak, which is now considered over, Iraq faced problems in the shipment of specimens for external verification of diagnostic tests. For the retrospectively confirmed case, initial test results were inconclusive, possibly as a result of sample deterioration during shipment. Repeated testing, using different methods, was needed for diagnostic confirmation.
The two cases previously confirmed in Iraq occurred in January 2006. Both cases were fatal.

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_09_19/en/index.html

 

[HenryN]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

You are probably right, Al. I was trying to get my head around the cases listed in this article, but it made not sense to me earlier. The only reason I questioned if case 2 was the 3 year-old was because I was looking for a recovered case -- doesn't have to be the 3 year-old at all.

So, what the article above talks about is 3 cases (that you've numbered):

- case 1 and 2 related from Kamaliya district -- case 1 died while case 2 recovered;
- case 3, a man from Sadr (Al Sadr) district, who was hospitalized (who knows whatever happened to him);

And, now we have the 3 year-old -- probably case 4 -- who recovered and now, retrospectively, has tested pos for H5N1. He is also from Sadr (Al Sadr) district. (Wonder if he's any relation to case 3?)

I think the quote below indicates the 3 year old is from Kamaliya

"The spokesperson noted that a member of the same family of the patient died with suspicions of bird flu disease, while another family member had symptoms of the disease in the area of Kamaliya in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the source said that three-year-old Haydar Razzaq Hussein fully recovered from the disease and is living a normal life,"

I think there are three people described ands all are related. One (3M) retrospectively tested positive, one was admitted twoward the end of the month, and one died prior to being tested. WHO has only acknowledged the 3 y.o.

 

[Commonground]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Avian influenza ? situation in Iraq - update 3

17 February 2006

The Ministry of Health in Iraq has confirmed the country?s second case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case, which was fatal, occurred in a 39-year-old man from the northern province of Sulaimaniyah. He developed symptoms on 18 January and died on 27 January.

He was the uncle of the country?s initial case, a 15-year-old girl who died 17 January, and provided care for her during her illness. He also had a documented history of exposure to infected domestic birds.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Avian influenza ? situation in Iraq - update 3

17 February 2006

The Ministry of Health in Iraq has confirmed the country?s second case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case, which was fatal, occurred in a 39-year-old man from the northern province of Sulaimaniyah. He developed symptoms on 18 January and died on 27 January.

He was the uncle of the country?s initial case, a 15-year-old girl who died 17 January, and provided care for her during her illness. He also had a documented history of exposure to infected domestic birds.

Just to clarify, the two cases above were in January in northern Iraq and are not linked to the Baghdad cases in March.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/09210601/H5N1_Baghdad_3.html

 

[Mellie]

Re: Iraqi boy was country's third bird flu case - WHO

<big><big>Commentary</big></big>

Retrospective Identification of Another Familial Cluster in Iraq
Recombinomics Commentary
September 21, 2006

"The spokesperson noted that a member of the same family of the patient died with suspicions of bird flu disease, while another family member had symptoms of the disease in the area of Kamaliya in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the source said that three-year-old Haydar Razzaq Hussein fully recovered from the disease and is living a normal life,"


The Ministry of Health in Iraq has retrospectively confirmed the country?s third case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case, a 3-year-old boy, was hospitalized in Baghdad on 15 March 2006. His illness was mild and he fully recovered.

The above comments, from a March 29 media report followed by comments in the latest WHO update suggest that the most recently confirmed case was part of a family cluster. Disease onset dates are not given for the fatal case, but it is likely that the fatal case infected the 3 year old, and one of the two then infected the third case. The mild case (3M) was confirmed because he was a contact of a fatal case.

The data indicate that H5N1 in birds and people was widespread in Iraq. The index case for the country, and her uncle were from northern Iraq. There was another cluster in southern Iraq, but only the associated pigeons were reported to be H5N1 infected. There were also reports of birds falling out of the sky just north of Baghdad in Sumatra. Thus, although there are only three WHO confirmed cases in Iraq, it is likely that the number of cases has significantly higher.

The detection of mild H5N1 in a contact is similar to the third confirmed cases in Indonesia. The 9 year old nephew was tested because he was a contact of his aunt, who was the second confirmed case in Indonesia. He also had a mild case and quickly recovered.

The failure to isolate H5N1 from either of these confirmed mild cases may indicate that the mild cases were due to a low initial dose from a fatally infected relative. The initial inconclusive result for the 3M in Iraq raises questions about negative data for contacts in other cases. If these contacts were infected with a low dose of H5N1, then testing them for H5N1 neutralizing antibodies may yield positive results. Antibodies can be detected in recovered patients for decades.

The level of testing of contacts remains unclear. In Turkey, the four siblings initially tested negative for H5N1. Three siblings died and were subsequently positive for H5N1 (and sequences for H5N1 from the first two have been released). However, the fourth sibling recovered and remains a negative on the official WHO list, strongly suggesting that there was no follow-up test. Similarly, 8 relatives hospitalized with symptom remain negative, even though 2 members of that family were placed I the ICU and subsequently tested positive while the fourth fatality in Turkey was from a third related family, and a sibling of the fourth fatality also was hospitalized and was H5N1 positive.

Thus, there is strong clinical evidence for much larger clusters in Turkey and elsewhere, suggesting WHO follow-up testing on these recovered cases is limited.

 

[Siam]

Iraqi Health Minister: No bird flu in Baghdad

Iraqi Health Minister: No bird flu in Baghdad

Iraqi Health Minister: No bird flu in Baghdad

date: 20 09, 2006

Baghdad Sept. 20 (BNA) "Iraqi Health Minister Dr Ali Al Shammari said claims on the discovery of a new case of bird flu in Baghdad were 'baseless'.

Iraq is free of the disease due to the extraordinary efforts and scientific programmes of the higher central committee for tracking bird flu, the minister said in a statement transmitted by Al Iraqia TV station today. He said reports carried by some newspapers are not based on accurate information and that they aim at shaking citizens' confidence in Iraqi health establishments and the services they offer. "


http://english.bna.bh/?ID=50521