Monday, February 11, 2013

Two more cases of human bird flu in China

South China Morning Post: China reported two human cases of bird flu in the southwestern city of Guiyang on Sunday, with both patients in a critical condition, the official Xinhua news agency said.

A 21-year-old woman and 31-year-old man tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus on Sunday after developing symptoms on February 2 and February 3 respectively, Xinhua said.

“They are in a critical condition and medical workers are carrying out emergency treatment,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement, cited by Xinhua.

It is the second city to be hit by the virus, after 19-year-old Beijing-based migrant worker Huang Yanqing died in January of the disease.

People who had close contact with the two patients are under medical observation but none have been found ill so far, the agency said. It reported that the pair did not have contact with birds before they developed symptoms....

Colorized transmission electron micrograph of Avian influenza A H5N1 viruses (seen in gold) grown in MDCK cells (seen in green). Avian influenza A viruses do not usually infect humans; however, several instances of human infections and outbreaks have been reported since 1997. From the Centers for Disease Control

No comments: