# 579
Tomorrow I'll be leaving for a week to make my thrice annual road trip to see my doctor in Missouri, and will be offline and unable to blog for most of that time. I will try to get an update in every few days, but will be working off of a laptop and dealing with slow dialup connections while on the road.
I'd hoped that, before I left, we'd have some answers to some of the open stories of the past few weeks. Unless we see a flurry of news reports in the next 24 hours, that isn't likely to happen.
From the `pending' file, we are still waiting to hear whatever happened to . . .
Korea: A week ago we were informed they had a suspected human case of H5N1 infection. A few hours later, it was intimated the patient might have meningitis instead. Tests were pending. Since then, not a word.
It doesn't take a week to rule out meningitis, and it certainly shouldn't take a week to confirm H5N1. This is South Korea, a country not devoid of technology or medicine, and so they ought to know by now what they are dealing with.
A simple LP (Lumbar puncture) would yield spinal fluid which in an hour would tell them if the patient had an elevated white count, a sure sign of meningitis. Lab cultures might take 72 hours to further define the type of infection. PCR blood testing should have revealed if the patient has the H5N1 virus by now.
China: On February 28th, we learned of a 44-year-old woman named Li who was diagnosed with the H5N1 virus. On March 5th, we heard she was being treated with an experimental serum made from the blood of a previously recovered patient. Since then, I've seen no reports on this patient.
At roughly the same time, Chinese officials took umbrage over the conclusions of a study naming Guangdong Province as origin of the H5N1 virus. One can't help but wonder if the lack of news, and the offense taken by the Chinese aren't somehow related.
Iran: Not a surprise really, as Iran isn't exactly a fountain of information to the west, but we've heard nothing since March 7th about a die off of birds at Tehran’s Pardisan Park, purportedly attributed to an outbreak of avian flu.
The chairman of environmental NGO Avay-e Sabz (Green Song) Society called on citizens, especially children to avoid visiting the park until the results of laboratory examinations on carcasses of 24 saker falcons, one kestrel and a number of owls were revealed.
Turkey: During the month of February we heard multiple reports of villages quarantined, and massive culling operations going on. Paramilitary guards were posted to keep people, and poultry, from exiting the area. A number of people were being tested for `suspected' avian flu infection.
Since then, I can't find any news on these outbreaks. I have no idea if the quarantine has been lifted. The last OIE ( World Organisation for Animal Health) report is dated March 1st, 2007, and lists 17 outbreaks in Turkey as `unresolved'.
Vietnam: A week ago residents in some suburbs of Hanoi were told they could not leave their homes unless they were wearing masks due to concerns over the transmissibility of the H5N1 virus. Media reports spoke of quarantines, military checkpoints, and multiple outbreaks in poultry.
Indonesia: Last weekend it was announced they had a 20-year-old woman positive for the H5N1 infection. Since then, no new word on her condition. With the ongoing tension between the WHO and the Indonesian Health Minister over vaccines, the WHO hasn't had an update on Indonesia in since January 29th.
These are just some highlights of course. There are many stories that appear, only to be lost somehow in the shuffle.
Some days it seems like we get no news, and that nothing is happening. The media moves on to other `important' stories, like Anna Nicole Smith, or the latest entrant into a presidential race still 18 months away. Bird flu falls off the radar.
But obviously there are things going on, we just don't always hear about them.
