H5N1 Evolving?
Recombinomics Commentary
October 5, 2004
>>Dr. Kamnuan Ungchusak, chief of the Health Ministry's communicable disease control department, said the most recent patients have shown different symptoms from those who fell sick earlier in the year.
"During the first outbreak, the medical teams understood that bird flu was affecting only the respiratory system, but in the new outbreak doctors found some patients also have diarrhea and symptoms that look like dengue fever," Kamnuan told reporters.<<
The above is bad news for two reasons. There already seems to be a problem with diagnosing avian flu in Thailand. The recent human to human probable transmssion was initially mis-diagnosed as dengue fever and the aunt was initially H5N1 negative.
Thus, it sounds like the recent case may have presented differently, which may signal changes in the H5N1 genetic material.
The virus continues to evolve, while Chiron can't even manufacture the H3N2 FDA approved vaccine, which includes Fujian.
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