Laos Confirms Second Human H5N1 Bird-Flu Fatality in Eight Days
Laos Confirms Second Human H5N1 Bird-Flu Fatality in Eight Days
and another....
Laos Confirms Second Human H5N1 Bird-Flu Fatality in Eight Days
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=ah1u2dsAzNTQ&refer=healthcare
By Jason Gale
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Laos confirmed its second human bird-flu fatality in eight days after tests showed a 42-year-old woman had the virus when she died March 4.
A laboratory in Tokyo found specimens from the woman, who lived in a village in Vientiane province, were positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization said in an e-mailed statement today.
Laos, one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries, is the 12th nation to report a human H5N1 case since the virus began spreading in late 2003. Infections in people increase the opportunity for the bird virus to mutate into a form that spreads easily between humans.
The country on March 8 confirmed its first human H5N1 fatality, a 15-year-old girl from a suburb of the Laotian capital, Vientiane, who died in a Thai hospital the previous day.
At least 168 of the 278 people known to have been infected with the H5N1 virus since late 2003 have died, the Geneva-based WHO said on March 12. Millions could die if H5N1 becomes as contagious as seasonal flu and sparks a global pandemic.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net
Laos Confirms Second Human H5N1 Bird-Flu Fatality in Eight Days
and another....
Laos Confirms Second Human H5N1 Bird-Flu Fatality in Eight Days
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=ah1u2dsAzNTQ&refer=healthcare
By Jason Gale
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Laos confirmed its second human bird-flu fatality in eight days after tests showed a 42-year-old woman had the virus when she died March 4.
A laboratory in Tokyo found specimens from the woman, who lived in a village in Vientiane province, were positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization said in an e-mailed statement today.
Laos, one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries, is the 12th nation to report a human H5N1 case since the virus began spreading in late 2003. Infections in people increase the opportunity for the bird virus to mutate into a form that spreads easily between humans.
The country on March 8 confirmed its first human H5N1 fatality, a 15-year-old girl from a suburb of the Laotian capital, Vientiane, who died in a Thai hospital the previous day.
At least 168 of the 278 people known to have been infected with the H5N1 virus since late 2003 have died, the Geneva-based WHO said on March 12. Millions could die if H5N1 becomes as contagious as seasonal flu and sparks a global pandemic.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net