Current human death rate from the H5N1 strain is 58.6% (244 cases, 143 deaths).  Five additional human cases have come from Indonesia. One is new, 4 are retroactive due to change in case definition. One of the retroactive cases had no known exposure to poultry. He had cared for his ill sister, who was a confirmed case in May. He had developed a cough and slight abdominal pain, but no other symptoms. He survived his illness. Original testing was H5N1 negative; however, in August, WHO ran follow-up testing that indicated this patient met the new case definition. WHO could not rule out the possibility of human-to-human transmission. His only exposure was to his H5N1-confirmed sister.
The new case is a 14 year old female from the South Sulawesi province. The case died on June 24. She had known contact with ill poultry. This case was detected by the country's routine influenza surveillance system.

There has been some encouraging news regarding flu vaccine studies. One study showed that experimental vaccines, based on live, weakened versions of different strains of the H5N1 virus, offered protection from the virus in mice and ferrets. Because they used various strains, it's believed that even if the H5N1 virus mutates, the vaccine would still offer some protection. This could mean a vaccine in humans could offer total or partial protection from the virus. Of course, this is just one small study and further analysis needs to be done.

WHO Laboratory Confirmed H5N1 Human Cases As of 8/09/06

Total number of cases includes number of deaths.
WHO reports only laboratory-confirmed cases.

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