Another H5N1 Fatality in Northern Vietnam
Recombinomics Commentary
June 21, 2007
A 28-year-old woman died of the bird flu Thursday in the Vietnamese capital, becoming the second person to die from the virus in Vietnam in two weeks, officials said.
Phan Thi Xuyen died at the Hanoi Hospital of Tropical Diseases, 13 days after she was admitted with symptoms of the H5N1 bird flu virus, said Nguyen Hong Ha, deputy hospital director.
Xuyen became ill in her home province of Ha Nam, 60 kilometers south of Hanoi, after she came into contact with sick poultry. Tests conducted by a Vietnamese laboratory confirmed she had been infected with the H5N1 virus.
The above comments confirm another H5N1 fatality in Vietnam. The sequence of these H5N1 in the new human cases remains unclear. Prior cases have been linked to Clade 1 H5N1. However, recent sequences from Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand have included Clade 2.3 (Fujian) H5N1, which may be co-circulating with Clade 1.
Co-circulation of two distinct H5N1’s leads to dual infections and rapid evolution via recombination. The sequences of the recent human and bird cases in northern Vietnam would be useful.
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