H5N1 Death Toll Climbs To 69

From CIDRAP:

"Dec 7, 2005 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed two more deaths from avian influenza, one in China and one in Indonesia, bringing the global total to 135 cases and 69 deaths in nearly 2 years.

Indonesia had already announced that the Nov 25 death of a 25-year-old woman from Tangerang was due to the H5N1 virus, so the WHO's announcement on Tuesday was confirmation of that diagnosis.

In addition, a 10-year-old girl from the south China province of Guangxi is hospitalized with H5N1 flu, the WHO said today. The girl developed a fever and cough on Nov 23. Health authorities are investigating to determine how she contracted the illness. Hers is the 4th human case of illness announced by China to date.

Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) announced yesterday that an 8-month-old baby in Indonesia has tested positive for H5N1 infection. The story cited a spokesman at the Sulianti Soroso hospital in Jakarta as saying preliminary tests were positive for exposure to the virus.

The baby boy, from North Jakarta, was ill for 5 days before being placed in isolation on Sunday, ABC said in an online story yesterday."

H-2-H Bird Flu In Thailand Too!

It appears as though a strain of H5N1 being transmitted human-to-human is surfacing in Thailand as well as Indonesia.

Enflu writes:

"The two latest confirmed cases of human bird flu in Thailand might be human-to-human transmissions, a senior health official has said.

Dr Charoen Chuchottaworn, a bird-flu expert at the Public Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Services, said doctors concluded after reviewing the history of the past two cases that both victims presented very mild symptoms of avian influenza and neither had any physical contact with chickens or birds.

One of the victims was a boy in Bangkok and the other was an 18-year-old man from Nonthaburi province, The Nation newspaper reported Friday."

Jakarta is full of Bird Flu!

It's pretty much agreed apon that Jakarta is already in an epidemic H5N1 emergency, with several new cases being reported daily and no signs of stopping. It appears as though the dreaded mutation has occured, although many are hesitant to make the claim.

This could be it...

Deadly Bacteria Resistant to Antibiotics Spreads

From CNN:

"A deadly bacterial illness commonly seen in people on antibiotics appears to be growing more common -- even in patients not taking such drugs, according to a report published Thursday in a federal health journal.

In another article in the New England Journal of Medicine, health officials said samples of the same bacterium taken from eight U.S. hospitals show it is mutating to become even more resistant to antibiotics.

"I don't want to scare people away from using antibiotics. ... But it's concerning, and we need to respond," said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, an author of both articles and an epidemiologist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Hospitals need to be conducting surveillance and implementing control measures. And all of us need to realize the risk of antibiotic use may be increasing" as the bacteria continue to mutate, McDonald said.

The bacterium is Clostridium difficile, also known as C-diff. The germ is becoming a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes, and last year it was blamed for 100 deaths over 18 months at a hospital in Quebec, Canada.

"What exactly has made C-diff act up right now, we don't know," McDonald said."

Thailand Bird Flu Cases May be Human-Transmitted

Latest bird-flu cases in Thailand might be human-to-human transmission:

"BANGKOK, Dec. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The two latest confirmed cases of human bird flu in Thailand might be human-to-human transmissions, a senior health official has said.

Dr Charoen Chuchottaworn, a bird-flu expert at the Public Health Ministry's Department of Medical Services, said doctors concluded after reviewing the history of the past two cases that both victims presented very mild symptoms of avian influenza and neither had any physical contact with chickens or birds.

One of the victims was a boy in Bangkok and the other was an 18-year-old man from Nonthaburi province, The Nation newspaper reported Friday.

This left doctors no clues as to where the patients became infected with the H5N1 virus and showed that the avian influenza had moved from causing severe human infection to milder cases."