Bird flu deaths up as fears rise
Vietnam confirmed today that a 14-month-old baby who died earlier this month had tested positive for bird flu, bringing the region’s death toll from the disease to 30.
The infant boy from Thanh Tri District in Hanoi is the 20th victim of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Vietnam, a Health Ministry official said condition of anonymity.
The baby had developed a high fever, convulsions and a cough on August 28 and died on September 5 at Hanoi’s Pediatrics Hospital, he said.
The death came after the disease re-emerged in the region for the second time this year. Early in the year, the bird flu swept across 10 nations in Asia, killing or forcing the cull of 100 million poultry.
Neighbouring Thailand, the only other country with human fatalities, has reported 10 deaths and announced yesterday the possibility that human-to-human transmission occurred in its latest case.
The case involved 26-year-old Pranee Sodchuen, who died on September 20 after contracting bird flu. Her 11-year-old daughter Sakuntala, who didn’t live with her, died on September 12.
The child is believed to have died of bird flu she caught from chickens in her house in the northern province of Kamphaengphet.
Pranee, who lived outside Bangkok, had no contact with the chickens but did have a very close,
face-to-face exposure to her daughter while caring for her in the hospital, Thai health officials said.
Health experts believe that the human infections generally have been caused through contact with sick poultry, and are concerned that the disease might mutate into a form that passes easily between people.
Last month, the WHO sent in a team of experts to investigate the most recent outbreaks in Vietnam after three people died here in August. The second wave of bird flu reappeared within a few months after the country had declared itself bird flu free at the end of March.
Recent outbreaks of bird flu have also been reported in Malaysia, China, Cambodia and Indonesia.
Vietnam has been continuing with its measures to contain the avian influenza, which destroyed 15% of its entire poultry stock in the first outbreak.
Last month, the national Veterinary Department sent 12 teams to 24 provinces throughout the country to inspect standards being used to fight the disease.
The department urged farmers to separate poultry from pigs to help keep the bird flu virus from spreading among species, after China reported the presence of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in its pigs.
