Vietnam confirms 14-year-old girl has bird flu

	Tweet

A 35-year-old Vietnamese poultry market cleaner and a 14-year-old girl, both in the north of the country, have contracted bird flu, which has killed 47 people in Asia.

The Lao Dong newspaper said Tuesday the woman was taken to hospital on Feb. 24 and tests confirmed Monday she had the virus, which experts fear could mutate into a form that could pass between people and unleash a global flu pandemic that might kill millions.

The woman, from a district of the capital, Hanoi, is the latest bird flu patient detected in northern Vietnam, where fewer outbreaks have been reported in recent weeks, but where cool spring weather still favors the spread of the H5N1 virus.

A laboratory researcher said tests on the other patient, the 14-year-old girl, also confirmed she had the virus that had also infected her 21-year-old brother.

“The girl also has the virus,” said the researcher at Hanoi’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, which conducts bird flu tests.

Her brother has been in critical condition and on a respirator after a traditional drink of duck blood before the Lunar New Year festival last month, officials said.

The siblings and a 36-year-old infected man are from the northern province of Thai Binh, 110 km (70 miles) southeast of Hanoi and far from the southern Mekong Delta where the outbreaks began in December.

Officials said the H5N1 virus killed a 69-year-old man last week in Thai Binh, taking the toll to 14 people in Vietnam since December and the total to 47 since the virus erupted across large parts of Asia at the end of 2003.

Almost all the victims—34 Vietnamese, 12 Thais and a Cambodian—have caught it directly from poultry.

The Agriculture Ministry said poultry infections occurred this year only on small farms.

It has ordered a halt until June 30 to the hatching and raising of waterfowl such as ducks and geese, which experts said can carry the virus without showing symptoms.

But state-run Voice of Vietnam radio said Tuesday farmers in several bird flu-hit Mekong Delta provinces had tried to avoid the ministry’s order by letting their ducks wander off into rice fields to hide from inspectors.

RELATED STORIES:
Drugs no answer to birdflu   WHO says Indonesian bird flu cluster does not show virus has mutated   Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus   Nasal Flu Vaccine in Kids: One Dose Is Good, but Two Are Better   Netherlands sees no threat from Russian bird flu   Flu cases rise in US, peak may be ahead: CDC   Indonesia tests more pigs for bird flu virus   Antibody may help treat and prevent influenza outbreaks   Flu shots urged for Katrina evacuees, elderly   Israel finds H5N1 in birds   Flu Keeps Appleton Students Home   Teen in Thailand dies from bird flu caught from fighting cockrel

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]