Re: Pakistan: Bird Flu claims 2 lives; more suspects
Re: Pakistan: Bird Flu claims 2 lives; more suspects
Bird Flu Infects Five People in Pakistan; Cases Rise (Update1)
By Khaleeq Ahmed
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu infected at least five people in Pakistan, a health official said, adding to the four cases recorded in Indonesia, China and Myanmar this month.
Pakistan's ministry of health in Islamabad reported the nation's first human avian influenza cases yesterday and said it can't confirm whether two brothers who died last week had also been infected with the lethal H5N1 strain because they were buried before specimens were collected.
``The two brothers died from pneumonia-like symptoms, but were buried by family members before health officials could take blood samples to test for the virus,'' Federal Health Secretary Khushnood Lashri said in an interview yesterday.
The new cases show the deadly H5N1 flu strain is continuing to spread, putting people at risk of the disease and creating opportunities for the virus to become adept at infecting humans. The World Health Organization says millions could die if the virus becomes as contagious as seasonal flu and touches of a global pandemic.
At least 340 people in 13 countries have contracted the virus since 2003. Three of every five cases were fatal and most were caused by contact with infected poultry, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or plucking feathers, according to the Geneva-based WHO.
Including the five most recent cases, nine people are reported to have been infected with H5N1 so far this month, the most since June. There were five recorded cases in December 2006.
Poultry Outbreaks
Pakistan has reported 44 H5N1 outbreaks in poultry to the World Organization for Animal Health since early 2006. The most recent occurred on Nov. 27 and 28 in the states of Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, killing almost 20,000 chickens.
Suspected H5N1 fatalities in Pakistan were reported by the News yesterday. Two brothers died Dec. 10 at Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar after contracting the virus, possibly at the poultry farm on which they worked in Mansehra, the daily national newspaper reported, citing Siddiqur Rahman, the hospital's acting chief executive. Mansehra is in North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan.
Of those who have tested positive for the virus, three have been hospitalized in Mansehra, said Lashri at the health ministry. The most recent infection was diagnosed Dec. 5, he said. The other cases are in the provincial capital, Peshawar, one of whom has recovered and was discharged from the hospital.
Those still infected have been quarantined and authorities from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock are checking whether the disease has spread further among poultry flocks. Supplies of Roche Holding AG's antiviral medicine, Tamiflu, have been dispatched to affected districts.
Myanmar Case
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, confirmed its first human H5N1 infection in a 7-year-old girl from the township of Kyaing Tone in eastern Shan state, WHO said in a statement yesterday. The case was detected through routine surveillance following an outbreak of H5N1 in poultry in the area in mid-November, the agency said.
The girl developed fever and a headache on Nov. 21 and was hospitalized six days later. She has now recovered, WHO said. The National Health Laboratory in Yangon and the National Institute of Health in Thailand made the initial diagnosis, which was confirmed at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Tokyo, the agency said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Khaleeq Ahmed in Islamabad on
paknews@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 15, 2007 02:44 EST
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aTtDAjTZwqxI&refer=india
