Viet Nam: another human case of avian influenza confirmed

[Guest guest]

Source: The New York Times, World Briefings section, Tue 11 Jan 2005

[edited]

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/international/11briefs.html>

 

 

Viet Nam: another human case of avian influenza confirmed

------------------------

Tests indicated that an 18 year old woman is infected with the A(H5N1)

strain of avian influenza, and if further tests confirm the finding

today,

she will become the country's 4th human case of bird flu detected since

mid-December 2004, said Dr Klaus Stohr, the World Health Organization's

top

influenza expert. The 3 other cases have been fatal, including that of a

16

year old girl who died on Sun 9 Jan 2005 after having been critically

ill

for 3 weeks. Further human cases suspected to have bird flu are under

investigation.

 

[byline: Lawrence K Altman]

 

******

[2]

Tue 11 Jan 2005

ProMED-mail <promed

Source: Reuters News agency, Tue 11 Jan 2005 [edited]

<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP148162.htm>

 

 

Viet Nam: death of suspected avian influenza victim

------------------

Vietnam is testing samples from 2 more suspected bird flu cases, one of

whom has died, as the country grapples to control [the virus] that has

killed dozens [at least 24 - Mod.CP] and ravaged the region's poultry

industry.

 

An 18 year old woman from Hau Giang province in the Mekong Delta died on

 

Mon 10 Jan 2005, said hospital official Le Van Dieu in southern Can Tho

city. The woman displayed high fever and coughing, symptoms similar to

those caused by bird flu. If confirmed, this would take the death toll

to

24 since outbreaks of the H5N1 strain were 1st reported in December 2003

in

the Mekong delta, and would become the 4th person to die from the

illness

in less than 2 weeks. A 16 year old girl who battled bird flu for more

than

2 weeks died on Sat 8 Jan 2004.

 

State media stated that the latest victim had eaten meat from sick

chickens

in December 2004, after which she became ill. " We are having her samples

 

tested, " Dieu told Reuters, referring to the woman hospitalised in Can

Tho

city. Officials at Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute, which was

conducting the tests on the woman's samples, could not be reached for

comment. The 3 deaths since December 30 were from southern Vietnam. The

H5N1 virus also killed 12 people in Thailand during 2004, but no new

cases

have been reported there since November 2004.

 

The Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) newspaper said doctors in Ho Chi Minh City

 

were testing samples from a 2nd person, a 15 year old girl, whose elder

sister was confirmed by health officials on Monday to have been infected

by

the H5N1 virus.

 

WHO has warned Vietnam it may face new bird flu cases this month as

poultry

is moved around the country ahead of the mid-February Lunar New Year

celebrations. Market inspectors have tightened quarantine checks on

poultry

at the city and all markets in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest

population centre with nearly 10 million people, and the capital Hanoi

to

the north. In the past 6 weeks, more than 108 000 poultry had been

either

slaughtered or had died of bird flu in Viet Nam, mostly in the south,

the

Agriculture Ministry said. During 2004, the epidemic wiped out 17 per

cent

of Vietnam's poultry stock of 250 million.

 

******

[3]

Tue 11 Jan 2005

ProMed-mail <promed

Source: Xinhuanet News agency online, Tue 11 Jan 2005 [edited]

<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/11/content_2444685.htm>

 

 

Viet Nam: total of suspected human cases of avian influenza reaches 14

----

14 people in 7 of Viet Nam's southern provinces have been hospitalized

since Mon 10 Jan 2005 [as suspected cases of avian influenza] a local

health official told Xinhua.

 

Of the cases, 4 have been confirmed to have contracted avian influenza A

 

(H5N1) virus infection. One bird flu patient from the southern Tien

Giang

province is in a serious health condition, and 3 others from the

southern

provinces of Tay Ninh, Tra Vinh and Dong Thap died, said an official of

the

Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City on Tue 11 Jan 2005.

 

" Hospitals treating the suspected cases are actively conducting tests to

 

determine whether they have contracted H5N1 virus infection, " the

official

said, asking for anonymity.

 

The spread of the virus is favoured by cooler temperatures and an

increase

in the movement of [commercial] fowl ahead of the Lunar New Year, which

falls in February 2005. To deal with the situation, Vietnam is taking

urgent anti-avian influenza measures, such as tightening management over

 

transport and trading of poultry, conducting closer surveillance on the

current situation of fowl flocks nationwide, and intensifying propaganda

on

the disease via mass media.

 

According to the Department of Animal Health, since December 2004 the

relapse of avian influenza has been seen in 13 [provinces] across the

country, killing or leading to the forced culling of nearly 100 000

fowl.

 

In late March 2004, Viet Nam declared an end to [the outbreak of] avian

influenza that killed 17 per cent of its poultry population and claimed

at

least 21 human lives since the previous outbreak starting in December

2003.

A total of 43.2 million fowl nationwide either died or were culled,

causing

a total loss of 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (USD 82.8 million) to the

local poultry industry.