Monday, June 4, 2012

No bird flu mutation as tot fights on

No bird flu mutation as tot fights on

Mary Ann Benitez
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
The bird flu virus that left a two-year- old boy fighting for life in hospital has not mutated but health experts warn Hongkongers not to let their guard down.
Experts said the quick detection of the case means Hong Kong has the right system to catch in midtrack the deadly H5N1 avian flu - seen as a potential pandemic strain even before H1N1 swine flu emerged in 2009.
The boy, who caught the virus in Guangdong, remains in serious condition in the pediatric intensive care unit at Princess Margaret Hospital.
Doctors gave him the antiviral drug Tamiflu in a bid to save his life.
He was admitted for five days to a general pediatric ward at Caritas Medical Centre and treated for obstructive hydrocephalus - or water in the brain - before the H5N1 diagnosis.

 

He was then transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital and put in isolation while his Hong Kong father and mainland mother were quarantined.
Hong Kong health officials have asked the Guangdong authorities to monitor the boy's grandmother who lives with the family.
Children in the Caritas ward were among 80 people put on medical surveillance for 10 to 14 days. Others include doctors and staff at a private clinic in Mong Kok the boy visited and the ambulance workers who transferred him.
The toddler caught bird flu when a duck that his mother bought in a Guangzhou wet market was slaughtered in front of them.
He also has an "atypical" presentation of hydrocephalus, which puzzled doctors, said Malik Peiris, professor of virology at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health.
Gene sequencing analysis announced last night by the Centre for Health Protection found the H5N1 that infected the boy belongs to the dominant strain - clade 2.3.2.1, the same one as isolates from wild birds detected this year and last, and in an imported human infection case in late 2010.
University of Hong Kong professor of virology and gene sequencing expert Guan Yi said the strain has been detected in Hong Kong, the mainland, Mongolia and Eastern Europe.
The center added that the genes are of avian origin and there is no evidence that the strain is resistant to Tamiflu.
Peiris said: "I don't think we can remain relaxed, we should remain vigilant about H5N1.
"We know this virus remains endemic and established in poultry in many countries all the way to Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Vietnam Cambodia, Guangdong and other provinces, infecting poultry and humans."
Although the virus can be transmitted to humans, this one case "does not dramatically change the situation one way or the other," Peiris said.
Bird flu measures in Hong Kong are still effective and people do not have to worry about eating poultry within the territory, he added.
"But people should be careful of going to live poultry markets when they travel overseas especially to endemic areas."
Nasopharyngeal aspirates taken from the boy's parents and five contacts who reported respiratory symptoms tested negative for influenza A (H5). Health authorities have received 20 inquiries from the public on hotline 2125-1111.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=123110&sid=36614033&con_type=1&d_str=20120605&fc=1

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