Bird Flu: November 26, 2005
The Wall Street Journal provides new data points about the spread of H5N1 avian (bird) flu:
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Earlier Saturday, Indonesian health officials confirmed a 16-year-old boy had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus, bringing to 12 the number of cases reported in Indonesia. Seven have been fatal.
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Taiwan’s first case of bird flu caused by the virulent and lethal H5N1 strain was confirmed last month in birds smuggled in from China. But the island has not recorded any human infections.
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Vietnam and China reported new outbreaks of the virus among poultry.
In hard-hit Vietnam, officials reported new infections in southern Long An province, the Department of Animal Health said on its Web site. Outbreaks have been reported in 19 other provinces since October, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 1 million birds, it said.
Also in Vietnam, a man suspected of being infected with the H5N1 strain fled a hospital quarantine unit, state-controlled media reported Friday. Officials in his home province have been trying to persuade him to return to the hospital, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.
China detected a new outbreak of the H5N1 virus in the northern Inner Mongolia region, its Agricultural Ministry said Friday, bringing the total number of outbreaks for the country in recent weeks to at least 22. The latest outbreak killed 246 birds at a farm in the city of Zalantun on Nov. 20, prompting officials to kill 16,567 birds in the area, the ministry said.