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New cases of avian flu in Thailand
28 september 2004
The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand confirmed the 27th September two new cases of H5N1 avian influenza in humans. The cases are a 26-year-old woman, who died on 20 September, and her 32-year-old sister, who remains hospitalized in stable condition.
These new cases bring the total in Thailand confirmed since early September to three. Altogether, Thailand has reported 15 cases, of which 10 were fatal, since the first human cases were detected in January of this year.
The most recent cases are part of a family cluster of four cases under investigation to determine whether human-to-human transmission may have occurred.
Human to human transmission would be cause for alarm, as it might signal the start of an influenza pandemic. Inefficient, limited human-to-human transmission may occur on rare occasions and is in line with what is known, from epidemiological and laboratory investigations, about the possible behaviour of the H5N1 virus.
The initial case in the family cluster was an 11-year-old girl who died of pneumonia on 8 September. Thai authorities regard her as a probable case of H5N1; laboratory confirmation is not possible as no specimens from this patient are available for testing. The girl, who lived in the northern province of Kamphaeng Phet, resided with her 32-year-old aunt, whose infection has been confirmed. Both patients are known to have had contact with dead chickens.
Source: W.H.O.
Comment
A family cluster of H5N1 avian flu is uncommon and leave the possibility open for a human to human transmission, but it is difficult to exclude that the family members was infected simultaneously from the same animal source.
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