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Six New Suspect H5N1 Cases in Thailand Raise Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary
October 24, 2005
At least six people were suspected yesterday of having bird-flu - and all appear to have been in contact with birds before they fell ill, informed sources said. The first person to be listed was Thongpron Klompanya, 39, in Nakhon Pathom, after two initial lab tests suggested he might have caught the deadly H5N1 virus.
The six suspect cases in Thailand are cause for concern. After claiming no human H5N1 cases this year, Thailand's reporting of the number of cases being confirmed or tested is alarming. Two patients have already been independently confirmed. They formed a familial cluster. Now a neighbor appears to be positive.
The two Thailand bird sequences from 2005 were similar to 2004 isolates from Thailand, but these latest cases may have H5N1 wild bird flu sequences.
Release of the sequence data from isolates from these recent human cases would be useful
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