- AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan reported its first human case of bird flu
on Friday in an Egyptian labourer believed to have been infected while
on holiday in his home town in Egypt, health officials said.
-
- Health Minister Said Darwazeh said the
31 year old had been taken to hospital on Thursday after suffering severe
breathing problems, three days after he returned from the Fayoum region
in Egypt where people had been in contact with infected poultry.
-
- "He tested positive for H5N1 virus
on Friday but his condition is good and (he is) getting treatment and we
are coordinating with the Egyptian authorities," Darwazeh told Reuters.
-
- He said tests showed there were no other
cases, although Adel Belbissi, a senior ministry official, said six people
who shared an apartment with the man had also been admitted to hospital
for observation.
-
- The man had lived in Jordan for three
years. "He was infected in his (home) country. He and his family in
the village of al-Jaafra in Fayoum had slaughtered many chickens after
a lot of sick poultry and birds died," Darwazeh added.
-
- Jordan's neighbours Iraq and Egypt have
reported infected poultry and human deaths from bird flu.
-
- Darwazeh said the country was braced
for new outbreaks. "We are prepared for the possibility of new outbreaks
especially since we are close to infected areas," he said, adding
that samples had been sent to the World Health Organisation.
-
- Authorities said they were giving out
anti-viral drugs in the southern city of Karak where the labourer worked.
Those who had come into contact with him and travellers who arrived with
him at the port of Aqaba were also being tested for the virus.
-
- Egypt has reported bird flu infections
in five people in recent weeks, two of whom died.
-
- Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians live
and work in Jordan and travel with few restrictions. Officials said they
would try to screen the thousands of workers who arrive from Egypt daily.
-
- Veterinary experts say it is difficult
to contain the outbreak in a country such as Egypt because so many people
keep poultry at home.
-
- Bird flu has killed at least 105 people
since it re-emerged in late 2003.
-
-
- 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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