Suspect H5N1 Bird Flu Cluster in Iran
Recombinomics Commentary
May 22, 2006
Samples from two dead patients in the northwestern Iranian city of Kermanshah have been sent to international laboratories to be tested for the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus, the ISNA students news agency reported on Monday. ISNA quoted a doctor at Kermanshah's medical university as saying four patients had been tested, two of whom had died and one of whom was in a critical condition.
The above comments on a suspect H5N1 bird flu cluster in northwest Iran is cause for concern. Dates are not included ad potential relationship between patients is not given, but a geographical cluster in Iran near the prior large clusters in Turkey and Azerbaijan is cause for concern.
The Turkey outbreak was linked to S227N and H9N2 is still endemic in the area, offering additional opportunities fro recombination with H5N1 which migrates through the area when returning to siberiua for the summer.
More information on the disease onset dates and relationships between the cluster members would be useful.
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