Suspect H5N1 Cluster in Fayoum Egypt
Recombinomics Commentary 15:03
March 3, 2008
Fayoum governorate declared a state of emergency following the announcement that the injury Susan Salah Zaki - housewife from the village of gunshot status Brenda - avian influenza before yesterday, and moved to the directorates of health, veterinary medicine and ration and security to the village, and cleared their homes.
Said Dr Hussein Sophie Abutaleb Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Fayyoum governorate had been yesterday detention Ghada Saleh ailing sister Hospital issued Urban, on suspicion of being infected with the disease.
The above translation describes a suspect familial cluster in Fayoum, Egypt. The sister of the latest confirmed case has been hospitalized as a suspect case. The H5N1 in the index case was aggressive. The patient was hospitalized within three days of disease onset and developed pneumonia in both lungs. She is in critical condition, which is in marked contrast to confirmed patients of a year ago, when most cases were mild and did not develop pneumonia.
Recently released sequences from poultry in Egypt raised concerns of rapid evolution due to vaccine escape. These isolates have a large number of non synonymous changes, which target specific HA positions.
More detail on the status of the sister of the confirmed case, and release of sequences from the seven confirmed cases this season would be useful.
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