First human-to-human case of bird flu in Hanoi
Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Vietnamese health authorities confirmed on Friday that a man hospitalised in Hanoi had tested positive for bird flu, making it the first case of the deadly disease in the capital and the north of the country.
Six people have died from bird flu in Vietnam in the past three weeks, all of them from the south of the country.
"The tests results were positive for this man," said Le Dang Ha, a professor at the Institute of Tropical Diseases.
The patient, 42, was in stable condition, he said.
The six who had died since December 20 had all been in close contact with poultry. However the Hanoi patient had apparently not, Ha said.
The man had gone to the institute this month to take care of his brother, who had a respiratory disease and died on January 9.
Health authorities said on Thursday the brother, 45, had tested negative for bird flu. However the result would be rechecked, they said, amid fears of human to human transmission of the virus.
The World Health Organisation has repeatedly warned that the virus, which can pass from infected poultry to humans, could mutate into a highly contagious human-to-human form that could trigger the next global human flu pandemic.
"It has a higher fatality rate than the Ebola virus," said Hans Troedsson, WHO representative in Vietnam, where more than 70 percent of those infected have died.
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30/09/2004
31/01/2005
