Just one week after confirming Laos’ first human case of bird flu infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) fears a second case has emerged. The patient is a woman, aged 42, from Vientiane province. She was hospitalized on February 28th with bird flu like symptoms. Doctors say she is in a stable condition. Experts believe it is ‘most likely’ the H5N1 bird flu virus strain – the most virulent one.
Two samples have tested positive for H5. Confirmation on whether it is H5N1 is pending.
A 15-year-old girl was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus strain last week. The girl, from Vientiane, is still in hospital. About one month ago there was a confirmed outbreak of bird flu among chickens in that area.
Experts say these two human cases are not connected.
Scientists fear the H5N1 bird flu virus strain will mutate and become easily human transmissible – this has not happened yet. It is still very difficult for a bird to infect a human, It is much more difficult for a human to infect another human.
It is believed that H5N1 could mutate if it infected a human who was ill with the normal human flu virus. The bird flu virus would then have the opportunity to exchange genetic information with the human flu virus and acquire its ability to pass easily from human-to-human. If this were to happen it could be the start of a global flu pandemic.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today