Thanks Jim Noble for the info via Bitt, but I can't find anything to suggest H5N1 causes pulmonary edema and bleeding in all humans who get it from bird exposure. I did find where death by H5N1 is caused simply by pulmonary viral replication, making it sound a LOT like previous flu strains. As far as I'm aware, there isn't a definitive study from 1997 or even afterward, that indicates exactly how many people truly had H5N1 and survived vs those who died from it. I'm always wary of hazy statistics. At this point, it appears that the WHO and other medical "institutions" simply do not know enough to be able to safely predict anything regarding this type of flu. This is why I refuse to panic...LOL.
Another concern of mine: we have to take into account the overall health of those infected overseas. We know nothing of their medical histories other than they were in direct contact with live chickens.
It will bear watching...for sure. Thanks again.
Pathology of fatal human infection associated with avian influenza A H5N1 virus.
Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Eighteen cases of human influenza A H5N1 infection were identified in Hong Kong from May to December 1997. Two of the six fatal cases had undergone a full post-mortem which showed reactive hemophagocytic syndrome as the most prominent feature.
Other findings included
organizing diffuse alveolar damage with interstitial fibrosis,
extensive hepatic central lobular necrosis,
acute renal tubular necrosis and
lymphoid depletion.