- State Media Report Death Of Student In Viet Nam
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- (Agence France-Presse) -- A Vietnamese student has
died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the
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- country's 4th victim of avian influenza this year, state
media reported on Tue [7 Aug 2007]. The 15 year old victim's family had
kept ducks at their home in Thanh Hoa province, south of the capital Hanoi,
the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. The death, which could not
immediately be verified with government officials, would bring to 46 the
number of people who have died of bird flu in Viet Nam since the killer
virus broke out here in late 2003.
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- Communist Viet Nam, once the nation worst hit by bird
flu, contained earlier outbreaks through mass vaccination campaigns, the
culling of millions of poultry, and public education initiatives. But the
virus resurfaced strongly earlier this year [2007], especially among waterfowl,
hitting scores of poultry farms in an outbreak that at its peak in May
spread to 18 of Viet Nam's 64 provinces and municipalities.
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- As of this week, only 3 provinces remained affected,
and 160 million head of poultry had received bird flu shots in the year's
first round of vaccinations which was ongoing or finished in all provinces,
officials said.
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- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recorded 319
cases of bird flu in humans worldwide, 192 of which have been fatal. The
Geneva-based body has yet to confirm the latest death in Viet Nam with
laboratory tests.
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- Experts fear the global death toll could rise sharply
if the virus were to mutate and become easily transmissible between humans,
leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions. Last
week [30 Jul - 3 Aug 2007] WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said global bird
flu cases appeared to have stabilised among humans but that several developing
nations had not been able to stem its spread among poultry and domesticated
birds. "The number of human cases of bird flu appears to be stable
when compared to the same period last year," Hartl said. "In
the northern hemisphere, the number of cases in summer has declined marginally
from the winter. "Human to human transmission are very rare. We think
there have been 3 cases -- in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Indonesia. And each
time the person has had prolonged and direct contact with an affected person,"
Hartl said.
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- World Bank vice president for East Asia and the Pacific
James Adams, speaking earlier on Tuesday [7 Aug 2007] during a visit to
Hanoi, warned that the bird flu threat remained. "The magnitude of
the challenge in this region is exceptional because this is a region where
livestock lives in close proximity to the human population," he told
a Hanoi media briefing. "We are trying to emphasize from the development
side that the needs of the veterinary systems and the health systems do
need to be pushed and have to be reinforced."
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- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
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- There is an increasing discrepancy between the number
of human cases confirmed by the Vietnamese Health Ministry and the number
listed by WHO. According to the Vietnamese Health Ministry the death of
the student reported above raises the number of human cases since the beginning
of 2007 to 7 with 4 fatalities, and the total number of cases since 2003
to 100 with 46 fatalities. As of 25 Jul 2007 WHO has confirmed only 95
cases and 42 deaths. Clarification of the situated would be welcomed. -
Mod.CP
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- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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