Commentary
H5N1
Clade 7 Case In Quang Ninh Vietnam?
Recombinomics Commentary
10:43
February 7, 2009
Patients were tested first using test quickly, but the results are negative. The second test with PCR method (method of integrating gen), the result is positive.
The above translation describes a PCR confirmed H5N1 case in northern Vietnam, about 10 miles from the China border (see updated map) and about 150 miles from the recently confirmed case in Guangxi, China and the cluster in Thanh Hoa in Vietnam. The cluster in Vietnam involved a confirmed case (8F) who recovered, as well as her sister (13F) who died with bird flu symptoms and likely infected the confirmed case based on disease onset dates. A neighbor of the sisters was also hospitalized with pneumonia, but tested negative.
As noted in the translation above, the recently confirmed case (23M), initially tested negative in a rapid test. These tests have a low sensitivity, which may be even lower if the H5N1 is clade 7. Recent comments from Hong Kong suggest that the human cases in China are clade 7, and clade 7 has also been confirmed in northern Vietnam, raising concerns that the recent confirmed cases in Vietnam are also clade7.
Release of human and poultry H5N1 sequences from Vietnam and China would be useful.
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