Two More Suspect Bird Flu Cases from Northern Vietnam
Recombinomics Commentary
March 2, 2005
>> The two patients, one from Hai Duong province and the other from Nam Dinh province, were admitted to the Tropical Disease Institute in Hanoi capital on March 1 after suffering from fever and breathing difficulty, local newspaper Pioneer reported Wednesday.
The institute is treating three confirmed cases of H5N1 infections: a 35-year-old woman named Pham Thi Hoa from Hanoi, a 21-year-old man named Nguyen Sy Tuan from northern Thai Binh province, and the man's 14-year-old sister named Nguyen Thi Ngoan. Besides the two new suspected cases, it is treating a 36-year-old man from Thai Binh who is waiting for the final result of virus testing. Samples from the man were tested positive to the virus on the first testing, but negative on the second. <<
The new suspect bird flu cases from the northern provinces of Vietnam increase the number of recent confirmed or suspected H5N1 cases to seven. This includes four from Thai Binh, a province that has been declared to be free from H5N1 infections since February 5, 2005.
In contrast, there have been a number of reports on new outbreaks in the Mekong Delta region, yet no reports of new cases. The negative second test cited above suggests continued false negative problems with H5N1 tests. These testing problems may contribute to the lack of reported new cases in the south, although there do seem to be differences in the two populations.
There have been no reported bird flu recoveries in the south this season. There have been five reported recoveries in the north, and two of the patients described above are improving.
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