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What's New with the Bird Flu?

November 15 - 30, 2006
Current events and news reports regarding the H5N1 Virus
By Kristy Baumgart, Epidemiologist, St. Charles County Department of Community Health and the Environment

Please note there is new information almost daily. For the most current and accurate information, visit http://www.pandemicflu.gov, and look under the heading "Monitoring Outbreaks". The USGS site is very helpful in tracking current wildlife outbreaks and news stories. The WHO site gives the most current and accurate lab confirmed human case and human death totals.

Current human death rate from the H5N1 strain is 59.7% (258 cases, 154 deaths).  Two additional death has been confirmed in Indonesia. One of the cases reported 11/13/06 is a 35 year old female who developed symptoms 11/7/06. She died 11/28/06 while hospitalized.

Confirmatory testing on ducks in Ottawa County, Ohio revealed that no avian flu was present. These tests were done after initial testing revealed the possibility of H5 and N1 subtype among the ducks. Of the H5N1 strains found among domestic poultry in the U.S., all of them have appeared to have low pathogenicity and pose no threat to human health.

A press release from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources announced:
The United States and México today announced the signing of an agreement to boost cooperation on pandemic influenza preparedness among the six Mexican states and four U.S. states that share the international boundary.

Meeting in Hermosillo, Sonora, México, HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness Craig Vanderwagen and the Mexican Director-General of Epidemiology of the Mexican Federal Secretariat of Health Pablo Kuri signed a joint declaration to strengthen the commitment of the two nations to coordinate preparedness efforts, domestic and international disease surveillance activities, and response planning in the event of an outbreak of pandemic influenza.

WHO Laboratory Confirmed H5N1 Human Cases As of 11/29/06

Country 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total
cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths
Azerbaijan 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 5 8 5
Cambodia 0 0 0 0 4 4 2 2 6 6
China 0 0 0 0 8 5 12 8 21 14
Djibouti 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 7 16 7
Indonesia 0 0 0 0 19 12 55 45 74 57
Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 3 2
Thailand 0 0 17 12 5 2 3 3 25 17
Turkey 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 4 12 4
Viet Nam 3 3 29 20 61 19 0 0 93 42
Total 4 4 46 32 97 42 109 73 258 154

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


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