By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: May 4, 2009
As the world was focusing on swine flu, or H1N1, this past week, there were worrisome developments with respect to bird flu, H5N1 — a serious disease that continues to kill people in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Since late March, two patients — a 31-year-old man and a 2-year-old toddler — have died in a hospital in Indonesia despite several years of aggressive efforts to stop the spread of the virus in animals and humans there. The hospital even has a bird flu control unit; patients’ bodies are covered with plastic and sterilized after death.
In Vietnam, a 23-year-old woman died of the disease on April 22. The source of her infection is unclear; there have been no outbreaks among birds in the area.
Egypt, too, has seen a surge, with 16 cases this year and 2 recent deaths.
H1N1 has clearly been transmitted between humans during the current outbreak. H5N1 is generally acquired from contact with infected birds, but scientists still worry that it could mutate to become better able to spread between humans.
Unlike H1N1, which has been relatively benign so far, avian influenza has proved a potent killer. All four patients in Vietnam with diagnosed cases this year have died.
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