More H5N1 Confirmation for Soldier in South Korea
Recombinomics Commentary 11:49
April 25, 2008
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that an army corporal, identified only by his surname Cho, appears close to a full recovery.
The centers cited the lack of a high fever and a white blood cell count that approached normal levels.
However, authorities will keep the soldier under quarantine until final test results come out.
Cho had tested positive for a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza earlier in the week.
The above comments indicate that the H5 infection of a corporal in Korea is due to highly pathogenic avian influenza, which would be H5N1. It contradicts earlier media reports suggesting the H5 was from a milder strain.
The number of conflicting media reports remains high, even though the soldier was confirmed last Sunday. The pneumonia has been attributed to bacteria as well as seasonal flu, although reports citing the above have not mentioned any lab testing to support the speculation.
The speculation appears to be driven by a quick response to treatment, although the above comments acknowledge that recovery is not complete, which raises additional questions about earlier reports that the soldier had recovered.
Thus, at this time there is no conclusive evident excluding an H5N1 infection leading to pneumonia, followed by recovery due in part to treatment with Tamiflu.
The number of confirmed outbreaks in Korea has increased to 28 and no reports have described any H5 infection other than HPAI. 11 outbreaks have been described in OIE reports from Korea, and all are HPAI.
Therefore, the H5 infection of the soldier appears to be the first PCR confirmed H5N1 human infection in Korea.
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