Thai Binh Veterinarian Hospitalized with Bird Flu Symptoms
Recombinomics Commentary
March 10, 2005
>> A Vietnamese veterinarian has just been hospitalized for being suspected of contracting the bird flu virus strain H5N1, according to local newspaper Pioneer on Thursday.
The patient, a woman from Vietnam's northern Thai Binh province, was admitted to the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi city on March 9. She has frequently contacted with poultry, including infected fowls. <<
The hospitalization of a veterinarian from Thai Binh adds to the growing list of recent confirmed or suspect patients. Although the most recent patient's occupation and exposures would clearly suggest a zoonotic origin for her infection, official reports to OIE indicated that Thai Binh had relatively low numbers of H5N1 infected poultry this year (less than 1000 ducks or chickens) and was declared H5N1 free on February 5. Lack of H5N1 in Thai Binh is announced almost daily by government releases.
Many recent patients, most of who are in familial or contact clusters, are not clearly linked to H5N1 infected poultry or food. Epidemiological evidence for human-to-human transmission to secondary and tertiary cases is overwhelming, based on bimodal distribution of onset dates and gender bias linked to caregiver status and secondary cases.
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