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Overnight it was revealed that Laotian officials believe they have a second human H5N1 infection.
This report from Bloomberg.
Human Bird Flu Suspected in Second Case in Laos (Update1)
By Matthew R. Miller
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- A second case of human bird flu is suspected in Laos, only a week after confirmation of the Southeast Asian country's first case, according to the World Health Organization and government authorities.
A 42-year-old woman from Vientiane province has been hospitalized with avian influenza symptoms since Feb. 28, the Geneva-based WHO and Laos Ministry of Health said in a news release. She remains isolated and in stable condition and is being treated.
``It seems likely it is another case of H5N1,'' said Dida Connor, a World Health Organization spokeswoman, in a telephone interview today in Laos.
On March 2, clinical samples taken from the patient tested positive for H5, according to established WHO case definition, the statement said. Authorities are awaiting further verification of the strain from a WHO reference laboratory.
The lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza infected a 15- year-old girl in Laos, the WHO and the Health Ministry confirmed on Feb. 27. The teenager, who is in the hospital, is from a suburb of the capital, Vientiane, where an outbreak of the H5N1 virus in fowl was confirmed on Feb. 7, the agencies said.
``There is no direct link to the first case,'' Connor said.
``They're not from the same area.''
No doubt, Laotian officials, in the wake of the discovery of the 15-year-old who contracted the disease last month, are looking more closely at patients who present with clinical signs of bird flu. When you increase surveillance, you increase the odds of finding such cases.
There are countries, however, that are not looking. That includes parts of Asia and much of Sub-Saharan Africa. People who die of `atypical pneumonia' are never tested. They are simply buried, and except by their friends and family, quickly forgotten.
The incidence of human infections of this virus are undoubtedly still small, but the odds are, it is higher than we know.
