Officials report first Cambodian case of avian flu
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《英国医生杂志》
As Vietnam's H5N1 avian flu outbreak continues to spread, the first suspected human case originating in Cambodia has been reported and a new family cluster has once again raised the possibility of human to human transmission.
By 1 February, the official Vietnamese death toll was 13. On 30 January, a 10 year old girl died in southern Vietnam, having been admitted to hospital earlier that month. On 28 January a 25 year old Cambodian woman who had crossed the border into Vietnam died on the same day that she was admitted to hospital with a high fever and a cough.
"The test results showed that she was positive for the H5N1 virus," Dr Phan Anh Tu from Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute told Agence France Presse.
A young Vietnamese girl with avian flu is treated in Ho Chi Minh City paediatric hospital
Credit: STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
This is the first reported case originating in Cambodia, which has so far not reported any outbreaks of the virus among poultry. The woman's brother also reportedly died from acute respiratory problems, but this could not be confirmed by the World Health Organization.
"We wouldn't be surprised if there was an outbreak there because we don't know what's going on in Cambodia, Laos, or Myanmar. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has had no reported poultry outbreaks since last October, but these three countries don't have the capacity or the infrastructure to do surveillance in the countryside," said Peter Cordingley, WHO's spokesman in Manila. Outbreaks in poultry have been reported across Vietnam and in Thailand.
The death from H5N1 avian flu of a 13 year old Vietnamese girl from southern Vietnam on 28 January, a week after her 35 year old mother died of the disease, has raised concerns of possible human to human transmission. Research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine ( 2005;352: 333-40) confirmed that there had been limited human to human transmission in a family cluster in Thailand in 2004. In Vietnam this is the second time a family cluster has been suspected during the current outbreak.
"We are worried about the custom of families nursing sick relatives," said Mr Cordingley. "In Vietnam, families are expected to step in and take care of sick relatives, but although we think the healthcare workers there are taking all the right precautions, families' members are giving close-up care with no infection control measures," he said.
WHO has warned that the H5N1 virus may be evolving in ways that are favourable to mutation into a pandemic strain of human flu.(Jane Parry)
By 1 February, the official Vietnamese death toll was 13. On 30 January, a 10 year old girl died in southern Vietnam, having been admitted to hospital earlier that month. On 28 January a 25 year old Cambodian woman who had crossed the border into Vietnam died on the same day that she was admitted to hospital with a high fever and a cough.
"The test results showed that she was positive for the H5N1 virus," Dr Phan Anh Tu from Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute told Agence France Presse.
A young Vietnamese girl with avian flu is treated in Ho Chi Minh City paediatric hospital
Credit: STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
This is the first reported case originating in Cambodia, which has so far not reported any outbreaks of the virus among poultry. The woman's brother also reportedly died from acute respiratory problems, but this could not be confirmed by the World Health Organization.
"We wouldn't be surprised if there was an outbreak there because we don't know what's going on in Cambodia, Laos, or Myanmar. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has had no reported poultry outbreaks since last October, but these three countries don't have the capacity or the infrastructure to do surveillance in the countryside," said Peter Cordingley, WHO's spokesman in Manila. Outbreaks in poultry have been reported across Vietnam and in Thailand.
The death from H5N1 avian flu of a 13 year old Vietnamese girl from southern Vietnam on 28 January, a week after her 35 year old mother died of the disease, has raised concerns of possible human to human transmission. Research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine ( 2005;352: 333-40) confirmed that there had been limited human to human transmission in a family cluster in Thailand in 2004. In Vietnam this is the second time a family cluster has been suspected during the current outbreak.
"We are worried about the custom of families nursing sick relatives," said Mr Cordingley. "In Vietnam, families are expected to step in and take care of sick relatives, but although we think the healthcare workers there are taking all the right precautions, families' members are giving close-up care with no infection control measures," he said.
WHO has warned that the H5N1 virus may be evolving in ways that are favourable to mutation into a pandemic strain of human flu.(Jane Parry)