- The Health Ministry on Saturday [15 Dec 2007] confirmed
that a man who died after culling infected birds at a poultry farm was
the country's 1st fatality from the bird flu virus. One of the man's brothers
who took part in the cull also died, but he was not tested for the virus,
a Ministry spokesman told AFP. It was not immediately known why the 2nd
man was not tested (Previously, it was reported that he had been buried
before samples could be taken. - Mod.CP).
-
- The spokesman ruled out any case of human-to-human transmission,
a development that could have signaled a mutation of the virus with the
possibility to kill millions around the world. 6 people were confirmed
to have been infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, all of them
in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), the Ministry said in a statement.
"5 of them have fully recovered. One of the confirmed cases died in
hospital, while his brother, who could not be tested, has also died,"
it said.
-
- Ministry spokesman Mazhar Nisar said the confirmed victim,
the brother who died, and 2 other brothers who were infected but survived
all worked on the same cull of infected birds. "We are not certain
how (the brother) died because we could not conduct his testing,"
Nisar said.
-
- Hospital officials in Peshawar [NWFP] told AFP that the
confirmed victim died late last month [November 2007], a few days before
his brother, who was admitted with similar symptoms but was not tested.
Nisar said there had been no human transmission in this case.
-
- ProMed Mail
-
- This report provides a new twist to the story, contradicting
some previously reported statements from the Ministry. In this version,
the number of confirmed cases is 6, 5 of whom have recovered. Two of 4
brothers tested H5N1-positive, while a 3rd died but was not tested.
Three of these 4 brothers, including the 2 fatal cases and one of the 2
surviving brothers, were employed in poultry culling. (Elsewhere it is
recorded that the 4th was a visitor now returned to the USA and found to
be H5N1-negative there). If this version of the story is correct, it is
likely that the brothers were infected from the same source in the course
of their employment and that human-to-human transmission has not occurred.
Further clarification and verification of the diagnoses by an independent
source are awaited. - Mod.CP 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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