H5N1 Fatal Case in Guangxi China
Recombinomics Commentary 18:05
February 21, 2008
A man from China's southern Guangxi autonomous region has died of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the third death from the disease since late last year, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
The man fell ill on February 12, was admitted to hospital two days later and died on February 20, the ministry said on its Web site (www.moh.gov.cn).
A 22-year-old man from the central Chinese province of Hunan died in late January of the H5N1 strain. Between Jan 18 and Feb 14 it also killed three men in north Vietnam, which borders Guangxi.
The above comments describe another fatal H5N1 case in southern China. As noted above, Guangxi is just north of Vietnam, where there have been three recently confirmed fatal H5N1 cases (see satellite map). These infections are likely linked to clade 2.3 (Fujian strain).
In addition, northern Vietnam has reported multiple suspect hospitalized cases, in addition to a suspect fatal case in the south. The human outbreaks have been associated with reports of new outbreaks in poultry in the region.
More information on the sequence of H5N1 linked to the human and poultry cases would be useful.
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