Article out of Indo: China to announce a fifth bird flu victim

Tuesday, 27/01/2009 18:39 WIB
China to announce a fifth bird flu victim
by: Ratna Ariyanti

SHANGHAI (Bloomberg): China's Health Ministry announced the death of a man aged 18 years due to avian influenza virus which is the fifth victim in China this year.

Victim, who identified with the family name of Liang and live in Guangxi Zhuang, fell ill on January 19. He was treated at a hospital in Beiliu, and moved to the Red Cross Hospital Yulin on January 24 and died on January 26.

China's Health Ministry said the investigation showed the men never make contact with the dead animals. Tests done by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control in China on January 16 confirming that the H5N1 virus infected Liang.

The Ministry of Health to add the Chinese government has reported this case to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) and health authorities in Hong Kong and Macao.

In a separate statement, the Ministry of Health said one other victim, men aged 29 years with the family name Zhou, also fell ill on January 15.

Examination was conducted on January 25 and after the examination, this man is exposed to the virus H5N1 causes bird flu. Men who had visited the cattle market that is now in a critical condition.

WHO site indicates the virus H5N1 has been menginfeksi at least 397 people in 15 countries since 2003 and killed 63% of the infected patients.

Supervision of H5N1 virus have been done for more than 1 decade to determine whether the virus can bermutasi in the form that is easily spread among humans or not.

A worst scenario that made the World Bank in October 2008 the flu pandemic could kill 71 million people around the world and cause a global recession and suck up the cost of more than U.S. $ 3 trillion. (luz)