Published Date: 2009-03-19 18:00:52
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (54): Viet Nam, susp.
Archive Number: 20090319.1109

AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN (54): VIET NAM, SUSPECTED
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Date: Thu 19 Mar 2009
Source: The Times of India [edited]
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest-of-World/Vietnam-boy-tests-positive-for-bird-flu-Doctors-/articleshow/4285026.cms>


A 3-year-old boy in Viet Nam has tested positive for potentially
deadly bird flu, doctors said on Thursday [19 Mar 2009]. The patient
from the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap was admitted to Ho Chi
Minh City's Tropical Diseases Institute Monday [16 Mar 2009], and on
Wednesday [18 Mar 2009], a test came back positive for the H5N1
strain, said Nguyen Van Chau, director of the city's health care
department. "The situation of the boy is getting worse," Chau said.
Another doctor, from the municipal Pasteur Institute, said the boy's
sample will be tested again to confirm the infection.

Communist Viet Nam has the world's 2nd highest bird flu death toll
after Indonesia, with 54 deaths. Since the beginning of the year
[2009], the deaths of 2 people have been blamed on the virus, and the
3-year-old boy is the 4th infection reported this year.

Poultry in 5 of Viet Nam's 63 provinces are infected with the H5N1
strain, the animal health department says. According to the World
Health Organization, H5N1 has killed more than 250 people across the
world since 2003. The H5N1 virus typically spreads from birds to
humans via direct contact, but experts fear that it could mutate into
a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to
kill millions in a pandemic.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall

See Also

Avian influenza, human (45): Viet Nam, WHO 20090302.0856
Avian influenza, human (42): Viet Nam 20090227.0815
Avian influenza, human (40): Viet Nam, WHO 20090224.0767
Avian influenza, human (38): Viet Nam 20090222.0741
Avian influenza, human (37): Viet Nam, WHO 20090218.0671
Avian influenza, human (36): Viet Nam 20090217.0665
Avian influenza, human (34) - Viet Nam, WHO 20090211.0623
Avian influenza, human (32): Viet Nam 20090209.0593
Avian influenza, human (30): Viet Nam 20090207.0557
Avian influenza, human (05): Viet Nam, susp. 20090109.0085
Avian influenza, human (04): Viet Nam, WHO 20090107.0068
Avian influenza, human (02): Viet Nam 20090106.0049
.....................................................cp/msp/dk

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