(20-03-2009)
HCM CITY — A patient in HCM City’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases who tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus died yesterday afternoon, the Department of Health announced.
Nguyen Van Chau, director of the city’s Health Department, said the patient, a three-year-old boy from Phu Long Commune’s Phu Hoa Hamlet in the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap, was hospitalised on Monday with fever, coughing and breathing problems.
It was the the first case of avian flu in humans reported so far this year in the south of the country.
The boy was isolated and treated aggressively but his condition became critical and he later died, doctor said.
Some neighbouring households breed poultry, and his parents had eaten a duck a few days before.
Dr Nguyen Ngoc An, director of Dong Thap Province’s Preventive Medicine Centre, said the centre was working with agencies to disinfect the area in an attempt to contain the spread of the dreaded virus.
"We have sent samples from the boy’s family members and poultry breeders at Phu Hoa Hamlet to the Pasteur Institute in HCM City for testing," An said. — VNS
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