- "A 35-year-old woman farmer surnamed Xu in Xiuning
County of Anhui developed fever and pneumonia-like symptoms on Nov. 11
after contacts with sick and dead poultry. She died on Nov. 22."
-
- The above case is the third H5N1 fatality reported in
China. Two of the three confirmed cases have died and the third death
is a highly suspect case who was the 12 year-old sister of the only confirmed
H5N1 case who has survived.
-
- These four cases are beginning to form clusters, with
two cases in Hunan and two in Anhui. Although the number of reported
cases is small. The association with outbreaks linked to migratory birds
is cause for concern.
-
- This season the first reported H5N1 outbreak in China
was in Inner Mongolia. This was followed by outbreaks in Anhui and
Hunan. The time and location of these outbreaks suggest they are
linked to the widespread H5N1 in Mongolia reported over the summer.
Included in the Mongolia bird cases are three swan isolates with a novel
HA cleavage site, which could reflect changes in the pathogenicity of these
isolates.
-
- In addition to the repeated outbreaks in Anhui and Hunan,
there are also outbreaks in nearby Liaoning province (see map) and third
party reports indicate there are 77 human fatalities associated with cullers
trying to bring these outbreaks under control. Although the 77 human
H5N1 cases have not been verified, the increasing number of official fatal
cases in eastern China raises additional concerns.
-
- Outbreaks in China are being reported on a daily basis
and many of these outbreaks are in localized regions indicating a failure
to control the outbreaks with culling and vaccinationmeasures.
-
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