Jun 25, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed two H5N1 avian influenza cases, one in a 4-year-old Egyptian boy and the other in a 3-year-old Indonesian girl.
The boy is from Qena governorate in southern Egypt. He got sick on Jun 20 and was admitted to the hospital the next day, where he is in stable condition, according to a WHO statement.
He is Egypt's 37th H5N1 case-patient; 15 cases have been fatal. Egypt's last two confirmed H5N1 cases, both in children, also occurred in Qena governorate.
Initial investigation indicates that the boy was exposed to dead poultry, the WHO said. The test results were confirmed by Egypt's health ministry, the country's Central Public Health Laboratory, and US Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3), which is a WHO reference laboratory.
The Indonesian girl, from Riau province in central Sumatra, fell ill on Jun 18 and has since recovered, the WHO said. The source of her infection appears to be exposure to sick and dead poultry, the WHO said. Indonesia now has had 101 cases with 80 deaths.
Azizman Daad, the avian flu team leader at a hospital in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, said the girl was treated with oseltamivir (Tamiflu) as soon as she was admitted, Agence-France Presse (AFP) reported on Jun 23. She was to remain in the hospital for a week of observation, the report said.
The two new cases boost the WHO's global H5N1 total to 315 cases, with the number of deaths remaining at 191.
See also:
Jun 25 WHO statement on Egyptian patient
Jun 25 WHO statement on Indonesian patient
