- (Reuters) -- Tests in Iran on the dead
bodies of a 41-year-old man and his 26-year-old sister showed they had
the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, an Iranian medical official who requested
anonymity told Reuters on Monday (22 May 2006). Serum samples from the
2 victims in the northwestern Iranian city of Kermanshah would be sent
abroad for further testing, the ISNA students news agency reported earlier.
If confirmed in international laboratories, these would be the 1st human
bird flu deaths in Iran.
-
- The Islamic Republic 1st detected cases
of bird flu inside the country in February 2006, when the virus was found
in wild swans. ISNA quoted a doctor at Kermanshah's medical university
as saying 4 patients had been tested, 2 of whom had died and one of whom
was in critical condition.
-
- The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus
of birds, but experts fear it could change into a form easily transmitted
from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions within weeks
or months. The virus has killed 123 people since late 2003, most of them
in Asia, according to the most recent figures from the World Health Organization.
Iraq and Egypt have also reported deaths from the virus in recent months.
So far, most human cases can be traced to direct or indirect contact with
infected birds.
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-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases"
message board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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