Likely Bird Flu Case in Phitsanulok Thailand
Recombinomics Commentary
February 8, 2005
>> Tawatchai Kamoltham, Phitsanulok provincial public health chief, yesterday said a seven-year-old boy had been treated at Phra Buddha Chinarat Hospital since Monday for high fever and infected lungs. The boy was reported to have touched dead chickens in his village.
A preliminary medical examination found the boy had the influenza type A virus. <<
The clinical picture of the above case is very solid for avian influenza. If initial bird flu tests are negative, the boy should be retested. Infected lungs in a seven year old boy positive for human influenza A would be unusual, especially within a couple of days of onset of symptoms after touching a dead bird in a province that had recent H5N1 outbreaks.
The short time between the onset of symptoms and isolation in the hospital would minimize the spread, but family members should be checked because unprotected care of H5N1 patients is very risky.