Commentary
Suspect
H5N1
Case in Morang Nepal
Recombinomics Commentary 15:33
January 25, 2009
He clarified that Santosh Dahal, 18, resident of Damak-10 and Hum Bahadur, 41, resident of Morang-8, were admitted at BPKIHS three days ago after being infected with pneumonia, not bird flu.
The above comments discuss two suspect H5N1 cases who were transferred to the Koirala Institute in Dharan (see updated map). Patients are not “infected” with pneumonia, they are infected with a microorganism that leads to pneumonia. One of the symptoms of H5N1 infections is pneumonia.
The above comments provide some additional detail on the second case. The above comments are silent on a positive lab result at the institute, as well as the shipment of the sample to a third party for confirmation. Thus, although confirmation by a third party has not been reported, the recent series of comments do not indicate the pneumonia is due to another microorganism, nor do they refute the report of a local positive lab result.
Media reports indicate one patient (18M) is a poultry farmer from Damak, where poultry was culled, suggesting implicating symptomatic birds in the area. It is likely that the other patient (41M) also had linkage, based on the proximity to the other case (18M) and expanded culling operations.
More detail on the local and third party test results would be useful.
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