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Widespread H5N1 Fatalities in China?
Recombinomics Commentary
November 16, 2005
China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday confirmed three human cases of bird flu, including two cases in the central Hunan province and one in eastern Anhui, said the official Xinhua news agency, monitored in Singapore.
The above report expands the number of confirmed H5N1 human cases in China. Since these cases survive, their H5N1 antibodies rise, so testing of serum collected 3-4 weeks after symptoms provides sero-conversion data, which shows the infection was recent and qualifies as a official case (if confirmed by an outside lab).
These data lend credibility to boxun reports of widespread H5N1 deaths, particularly in provinces experiencing poultry outbreaks.
These widespread human fatalities would also be consistent with the aggressive containment approaches in China.
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