WHO confirms 15 Indonesian bird flu cases logged during virus sharing impasse
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/070516/x05169A.html
Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | 11:12 AM ET
Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL
(CP) - World Health Organization formally acknowledged 15 H5N1 avian flu cases from Indonesia on Wednesday, cases that have gone unconfirmed since a virus-sharing impasse with that country began late last year.
As part of the announcement, the WHO said it will no longer require an outside laboratory to confirm test results from Indonesia, saying the agency has confidence in the country's capacity to accurately diagnose cases.
That decision follows a formal assessment of Indonesia's national testing laboratory that was carried out by a team of WHO virologists and laboratory scientists. The scientists were drawn from the WHO collaborating centre in Tokyo, the national influenza centres of India and Thailand, the WHO regional office for Southeast Asia and the WHO's country office for Indonesia.
As a consequence, Indonesia joins China, Cambodia and Thailand as countries that do not need an outside laboratory to confirm their diagnoses.
The 15 Indonesian cases, which include 13 deaths, push the global count of human infections to more than 300 since this outbreak of H5N1 began in late 2003. The global case count now stands at 306 confirmed cases, including 185 deaths, stretched over 12 countries.
The WHO statement announcing the development notes that seven of the newly confirmed cases were known to have been exposed to sick or dead poultry. No source of infection was found for the remaining eight cases.
The cases date back to Jan. 25, with the bulk - 10 - occurring in March.
Confirmation of the cases - which Indonesia has been announcing in the media as they have occurred - push that country's toll up to 96 cases, 76 of them fatal, since the country started experiencing human infections in mid-2005.
Indonesia is by far the hardest-hit country in terms of H5N1 human cases. While Vietnam's total case count - 93 - is close to Indonesia's tally, only 42 of Vietnam's cases succumbed to the infection. Vietnam hasn't recorded a case of H5N1 in humans since November 2005.
The impasse over virus sharing relates to Indonesia's demand that it and other H5N1-affected countries should have guaranteed and affordable access to any H5N1 vaccines in the event the virus triggers a pandemic.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/070516/x05169A.html
Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | 11:12 AM ET
Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL
(CP) - World Health Organization formally acknowledged 15 H5N1 avian flu cases from Indonesia on Wednesday, cases that have gone unconfirmed since a virus-sharing impasse with that country began late last year.
As part of the announcement, the WHO said it will no longer require an outside laboratory to confirm test results from Indonesia, saying the agency has confidence in the country's capacity to accurately diagnose cases.
That decision follows a formal assessment of Indonesia's national testing laboratory that was carried out by a team of WHO virologists and laboratory scientists. The scientists were drawn from the WHO collaborating centre in Tokyo, the national influenza centres of India and Thailand, the WHO regional office for Southeast Asia and the WHO's country office for Indonesia.
As a consequence, Indonesia joins China, Cambodia and Thailand as countries that do not need an outside laboratory to confirm their diagnoses.
The 15 Indonesian cases, which include 13 deaths, push the global count of human infections to more than 300 since this outbreak of H5N1 began in late 2003. The global case count now stands at 306 confirmed cases, including 185 deaths, stretched over 12 countries.
The WHO statement announcing the development notes that seven of the newly confirmed cases were known to have been exposed to sick or dead poultry. No source of infection was found for the remaining eight cases.
The cases date back to Jan. 25, with the bulk - 10 - occurring in March.
Confirmation of the cases - which Indonesia has been announcing in the media as they have occurred - push that country's toll up to 96 cases, 76 of them fatal, since the country started experiencing human infections in mid-2005.
Indonesia is by far the hardest-hit country in terms of H5N1 human cases. While Vietnam's total case count - 93 - is close to Indonesia's tally, only 42 of Vietnam's cases succumbed to the infection. Vietnam hasn't recorded a case of H5N1 in humans since November 2005.
The impasse over virus sharing relates to Indonesia's demand that it and other H5N1-affected countries should have guaranteed and affordable access to any H5N1 vaccines in the event the virus triggers a pandemic.
