News - CIDRAP >> Two human H5N1 cases noted; poultry outbreaks expand

Nov 28, 2005 (CIDRAP News) ? Two more human cases of H5N1 avian influenza have been confirmed in recent days in Vietnam and Indonesia, while poultry outbreaks are spreading in China and Romania.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Nov 25 that a 15-year-old boy from Vietnam's Haiphong province has H5N1 infection, which Vietnamese authorities announced last week. The boy has been discharged from a hospital and is recovering, the WHO said. He is the 66th Vietnamese to contract avian flu.

A 16-year-old boy was confirmed today as having Indonesia's 12th avian flu case, according to a Nov 26 report by Agence France-Presse (AFP). He was hospitalized in good condition in the West Java capital of Bandung, said Hariadi Wibisono of the Indonesian health industry, as quoted by AFP.

"Tests [on blood] taken from the 16-year-old boy, both locally and by the World Health Organization, show that he is a bird flu patient," Wibisono said. The WHO hasn't updated its case count to reflect confirmation of the case.

The WHO said it would send a team to the eastern Chinese province of Anhui to investigate human deaths from H5N1, according to the English version of the China People's Daily Online. Two deaths have been confirmed in that province.

China wrestles with poultry outbreaks
China has reported seven new outbreaks in poultry in less than 10 days, according to the English version of the Chinese People's Daily Online on Nov 25. Outbreaks have led to the culling of about 17,000 birds in an Inner Mongolian village, according to a Nov 25 report China filed with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Bloomberg News reported on Nov 26 that China has had 27 poultry outbreaks this year.

CIDRAP >> Two human H5N1 cases noted; poultry outbreaks expand