Posted on 03/07/2005 6:09:23 AM PST by ex-Texan
Vietnam nurse infected with bird flu - doctor
HANOI -- A 26-year-old Vietnamese male nurse who tended a patient with bird flu has caught the virus that has killed 47 people in Asia, a health official said on Monday.
It was not yet clear if the nurse caught the H5N1 bird flu virus from the patient or by other means, said Tran Khac Vien, head of a district health care centre in the northern province of Thai Binh, 110 km southeast of Hanoi.
"He looked after and had contact with a H5N1 patient," Vien told Reuters.
"We have been informed that he was infected by bird flu but there might be other reasons that could cause the infection. We have not made any conclusion yet."
Vien said the nurse was in a Hanoi hospital with a high fever, a symptom of the H5N1 strain that infected his patient, a 21-year-old man from Thai Binh who caught the virus last month after drinking raw duck blood, a local delicacy.
The nurse had provided bed care to the man, whose 14-year-old sister was also infected after coming into contact with sick poultry.
In January, another man in Thai Binh was killed by bird flu after drinking duck blood and his two brothers had also been infected, but later recovered.
The Thai Binh siblings have raised public concerns about the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the virus that first erupted in Asia in late 2003, believed to have been brought by migrating birds.
Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien said last week, prior to the nurse's case, that all bird flu cases in Thai Binh were related to slaughtering or eating poultry.
There was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, which has killed 13 Vietnamese since the latest outbreaks in December 2004.
Vietnamese researchers said last week initial tests of a H5N1 vaccine on monkeys were successful, raising hopes in a country hit hard by the virus that a vaccine may be ready for human tests later this year.
However, Thailand planned to ask the United States for more information on a vaccine developed by the National Institute of Health before deciding on whether to allow tests on Thais, a senior official said.
We will ask them for reports on the tests. We would like to know whether the vaccine is safe to be used and whether they were successful with the testing on animals," senior Health Ministry official Paijit Warachit told a news conference. The United States asked Thailand, another country hit hard by the virus, last week to test the vaccine on humans.
Experts say developing a vaccine is an urgent task, fearing that if the versatile and resilient virus mutated into a form that could jump easily between humans, it would kill millions in a global pandemic.
Almost all the Asian victims -- 34 Vietnamese, 12 Thais and a Cambodian -- have caught it from infected poultry. Bird flu kills more than 70 percent of those known to have been infected, but doctors say victims can be saved if they are diagnosed early.
More Information from other reports:
The nurse carried a 21-year-old Thai Binh man, who had bird flu, on a stretcher and provided direct treatment for the patient at the Thai Thuy District Health-Care Center, said Dao Trong Bich, deputy director of the center. The 21-year-old man was later transferred to a hospital in Hanoi and is in critical condition with bird flu.
``The reason concerning why this nurse contracted the virus has not yet been determined,'' said Diu. ``But according to the preliminary investigation, he has a girlfriend in a village where bird-flu is present, and he went to her house and had meals there during Tet,'' the Vietnamese New Year that was celebrated last month.
Ask a Hindu about Americans eating burgers, made from cows.
"Hey, pass the pho. But listen, go easy on the DUCK BLOOD!" :-)
....., a 21-year-old man from Thai Binh who caught the virus last month after drinking raw duck blood, a local delicacy.
eER... yeah.
I believe the most important issue revealed by this news report is that a nurse caught the bird flu apparently by casual contact with a single patient. That is why I performed additional research, reading through many other news reports. There is possibly another casual contact that explains how the nurse caught the H5N1 bird flu virus. He visited a village to see his girl friend and the village has had other cases of the bird flu.
Please hold the 'we're all gonna die' sarcasm messages. If I was posting bird flu reports to freak people out I would have pick one of the more reliable items saying bird flu may be a bioweapon. Already there roughly 4,000 such reports posted on the Internet. Example:
This new form of the bird flu virus is called WSN/33 by medical researchers.
Brief excerpt:
[ WSN/33 ] is already transmissible from human-to-human, has been shown to be lethal in mice, has mutations in NA and PB2 that increase lethality, is widely available, and could be used [as a bioweapon] without genetic manipulation.You may find the source Here
North Korea, China and Vietnam are the only places on earth where these viruses breed. Are you getting the picture yet. 'Nuff said.
I'm on anti-viral meds right now for flu season...
MD
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