Additional Human Case Of H5N1 Infection In Azerbaijan

Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 12 Apr 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Tests conducted at a WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom have retrospectively identified an additional human case of H5N1 infection in Azerbaijan. The case is a 17-year-old girl who developed symptoms on 11 March.

She was seriously ill with bilateral pneumonia but has since fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. Early in her course of illness, a diagnosis of H5N1 infection was presumed based on her clinical symptoms and preliminary laboratory results, and she was treated accordingly.

Her 15-year-old cousin, previously confirmed by WHO, developed symptoms on the same day and was hospitalized in critical condition. She has also fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. Both girls, who are neighbours, reside in the small Daikyand settlement in Salyan rayon, where 7 of the 8 cases in Azerbaijan occurred. Active house-to-house surveillance in the settlement has failed to detect any further cases.

Retrospective confirmation of this case brings the total in Azerbaijan to 8. Five of these cases were fatal.

http://www.who.int

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