# 5447
Today the World Health Organization released an update from Indonesia on their latest H5N1 case, that of a 2 year-old girl from Bekasi City, West Java Province.
The child was hospitalized on March 9th after a week of illness, but has since recovered. The child’s mother – age 31 – died on March 1st from H5N1.
The child’s mother developed symptoms the 23rd of February, was admitted to a private clinic two days later, and was referred to a hospital on February 28th. She died the following day.
Her death was detailed in the WHO Update of March 14th.
The WHO follow up report follows.
Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia - update 2
25 March 2011 - The Ministry of Health of Indonesia has announced a confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus.
The case is a 2 year old female from Bekasi City, West Java Province. She developed symptoms on 2 March, was admitted to a health care facility on 3 March and referred to a hospital on 9 March. She has fully recovered from her illness.
The case’s mother (see update, 14 March) died of confirmed avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection one day prior to onset of illness in the new case.
The child accompanied her mother to the traditional market where live poultry were sold but investigations into the source of infection are ongoing.
Laboratory tests have confirmed infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus.
Of the 175 cases confirmed to date in Indonesia, 144 have been fatal.
The onset date of symptoms of these two cases were 8 days apart, which at least suggests the possibility of human-to-human transmission between mother and child.
The incubation period of H5N1 has been described as running anywhere from 2 to 17 days, but has most commonly been on the order of 2 to 4 days.
Making a case for h-2-h transmission – even with onset dates a week apart - can be very difficult, since there are so many known and unknown variables at work.
We’ll obviously await with interest the results of any epidemiological investigation.
