Suspect family cluster - Vietnam

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<table style="direction: ltr;" border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td>Vietnam Reports First Suspected Cases of Human Bird Flu in a Year</td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> By VOA News
30 December 2006
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</td></tr> <tr> <td class="imagecaption">A trader transports chickens on the back of his motorbike on a road near Hanoi, Vietnam (file photo)</td></tr></tbody></table>Authorities in Vietnam say four members of a family have been hospitalized with symptoms of bird flu, in the country's first suspected cases of the disease in more than a year.
Officials say the mother and her three children, aged between three and 13 years old, fell ill after eating a sick chicken earlier this month in Ca Mau province. Health officials say they are being tested for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
Earlier this month, Vietnam reported its first bird flu outbreaks in poultry in a year in Ca Mau and two other provinces in the Mekong Delta. The outbreaks killed or forced the slaughter of thousands of poultry there.
Vietnam has the second highest number of human bird flu deaths after Indonesia. More than 150 people have died from the disease, mainly in Asia.
Most of the deaths happened as a result of contact with sick birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that easily transmits by human-to-human contact.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.



http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-12-30-voa16.cfm

 

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Re: Suspect family cluster - Vietnam

Vietnam reports first suspected bird flu cases in humans in a year

The Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006

HANOI, Vietnam Four members of a family in southern Vietnam have been hospitalized with symptoms of bird flu, a doctor said Saturday, the first suspected human cases in the country in more than a year.
A 36-year-old woman and her three children aged three to 13 were admitted to Nam Can Hospital in Ca Mau province this past week with fevers, coughing, decreased white blood cells and damaged lungs, said Ho Van Van, a doctor at the hospital.
The family had four chickens and five ducks, and ate one of the chickens, which had fallen sick and died, on Dec. 23, he said.
Swab samples from the four patients are being tested for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, Van said. Health officials have disinfected the family's house and neighborhood, he added.
Vietnam has been widely seen as a model for how to fight bird flu using extensive vaccinations of poultry, careful surveillance and slaughters of birds in affected areas.
However, earlier this month, it reported its first bird flu outbreaks in poultry in a year in Ca Mau and two other provinces in the Mekong Delta.
The outbreaks killed or forced the slaughter of more than 13,000 birds in the three provinces.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung decided on Friday to send 11 Cabinet members to the provinces to direct the fight against bird flu, Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan (People) reported Saturday.
Vietnam has recorded at least 42 human deaths from the H5N1 virus since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. The country's last reports human case was in November 2005.
At least 157 people out of 261 known to have been infected with H5N1 worldwide have died, WHO says.
Most of those who died came into direct contact with sick birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that can be easily passed among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

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Re: Suspect family cluster - Vietnam

* Four members of a family in Vietnam's Mekong Delta are being tested for possible avian influenza after being hospitalized with symptoms similar to the disease, a health official said Saturday

Test results would not be available for a week, but if positive for the H5N1 virus, the family would be the first human cases of bird flu in Vietnam for more than a year following a resurgence of the disease in domestic poultry.

The 37-year-old mother and her three sons are in stable condition, according to Dr. To Van Man, director of emergency department of a medical centre in southern Ca Mau province.

"They have been treated in isolation since admission," Man said. "We have treated them with Tamiflu although we are not sure if they have bird flu."

The mother told doctors that her family had eaten a chicken that had died of an unknown disease four days before her oldest son, age 13, fell ill with high fever and trouble breathing. She and her younger sons, ages 7 and 3, became sick soon after.

Vietnam has seen 42 people die of bird flu * which is caught from close contact with sick poultry * since 2003.

The country had driven the disease into remission through an aggressive poultry vaccination programme, but last week officials confirmed it had returned in three provinces including Ca Mau, 250 kilometres south of Ho Chi Minh City

At least 160 people worldwide have died of the H5N1 virus, which has sparked concern for its potential to become into a widespread human disease.

At this moment, the H5N1 virus is not easily contagious among people, but scientists are watching it closely and say that if the virus is left unchecked, it could mutate to allow human-to-human transmission.

If that happened, the new human virus could quickly spread around the world among people who would have no natural immunity. Previous such influenza pandemics have killed up to 40 million people.

There is no human vaccine for H5N1, but poultry can be inoculated and international health experts have recommended trying to contain the virus in poultry so it does not have a chance to adapt to infect humans more easily.

? 2006 DPA

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_6835-Vietnamese-Family-Hospitalized-With-Possible-Bird-Flu.html

 

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Re: Suspect family cluster - Vietnam

Sorry didn't see the other thread here http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14626

Should we merge them?

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: Suspect family cluster - Vietnam

Thread closed.

Please post to other thread at:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14626