Bird Flu Suspect Sisters in Mekong Delta Vietnam
Recombinomics Commentary
January 11, 2005
>>The Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) newspaper said doctors in Ho Chi Minh City were testing samples from a second person, a 15-year-old girl, whose elder sister was confirmed by health officials on Monday to have been infected by the H5N1 virus.<<
The above comments suggest that the 18F in critical condition from Tien Giang is the sister of the 15F. No relationship to the 65M from Tien Giang was given. It is not clear the 15F was included in the 14 confirmed or suspect cases in the Mekong Delta and it is also not clear what the source of the suspect H5N1 infections were. The latest detail extends the number of Tien Giang cases to three and expands the two clusters centering on ducks in Can Tho city, where the fourth fatality was hospitalized.
Last season there were family clusters in Vietnam and Thailand. The two suspect sisters raise concerns about human to human transmission of bird flu.
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