Vietnam reports second human bird flu case
POSTED February 9, 2009 - 12:00 | POSTED BY Smrity Sharma
Last edited by Shikha Patial on February 9, 2009 - 12:32
Quang Ninh, Vietnam, February 9: Reportedly, Monday a young woman named Ly Tai Mui of Vietnam got admitted to the hospital after showing bird flu symptoms such as high temperature and problem in breathing.
According to health officials, the 23 year-old Ly Tai Mui is the second human case confirmed since the beginning of the year. She fell sick on Jan. 28 after she had a chicken. The officials found sick and dead poultry in her neighborhood. However, 10 other people in the family who had also eaten the sick chicken did not show bird flu symptoms.
Pointing towards the deadly strain of avian flu, Nguyen Quoc Hung, the deputy director of northern Quang Ninh provincial hospital, said, "The patient test result was positive to H5N1."
A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A (H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or "bird flu", and is endemic in many bird populations.
The bird flu transmits from the bird to humans through direct contact. However, the health experts also fear the strain could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, killing millions of people and sparking a pandemic.
The symptoms of avian influenza in humans varies from simple flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches, to pneumonia, eye infections, severe respiratory diseases and other severe and life threatening complications.
In early January, an eight-year-old girl from northern Thanh Hoa province fell ill after eating duck and chicken raised on her family's farm and was confirmed as country’s first reported human case in more than ten months. The deadly virus has claimed lives of 52 people in Vietnam, including five in 2007, since late 2003.
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected 385 people and killed 240 of them worldwide since late 2003. Indonesia has been hit hard with 115 deaths out of 137 contracted people, the highest of any nation.
