More Suspect H5N1 Cases in Pakistan
Recombinomics Commentary
December 19, 2007
Five brothers were sickened last month in Abbotabad, north of Islamabad. Two died, one of whom was buried before tests were conducted. The other four tested positive for the virus. Up to six more people were suspected of being infected, including several who were in contact with poultry. WHO and the Health Ministry had initially said only four brothers were suspected of being infected, but one patient identified as a cousin was actually another brother.
The above comments describe additional suspect cases in Pakistan. The WHO update with disease onset dates of confirmed cases has not been released, which may be related to the start of confirmatory testing by the NAMRU-3 mobile lab, which may not be set up until tomorrow.
Earlier reports suggested new suspect cases were being called in, and confirmation of these cases, as well as the cases described in media reports may be delayed until the lab is functional.
Among these cases are one or two health care workers described earlier. If they are confirmed positives, the transmission chain will be extended. Similarly, additional positives linked to poultry culling would provide more data supporting more efficient transmission from poultry to people.
Confirmation of the cases, as well as disease onset dates and sequence data, would be useful.
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