FACTBOX-Bird flu's spread around the globe
Pastor Dale Morgan
FACTBOX-Bird flu's spread around the globe*
09 Mar 2007 14:16:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
March 9 (Reuters) - The deadly bird flu virus is spreading into southern
provinces of Laos, a government spokesman said on Friday.
Laos confirmed on Thursday its first human death from bird flu, a
15-year-old girl living in a suburb of Vientiane where the virus was
found in poultry last month.
Bird flu first broke out in Laos in January 2004 in Vientiane and nearby
provinces.
The outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza began in Asia in
2003 and has spread rapidly over the past year.
Following are some facts about the H5N1 avian flu virus and its spread
around the globe.
* Since the virus re-emerged in Asia in 2003, outbreaks have been
confirmed in around 50 countries and territories, according to data from
the World Organisation for Animal Health.
* More than 30 countries have reported outbreaks in the past year, in
most cases involving wild birds such as swans.
* The virus has killed 168 people since 2003, according to thr WHO.
Countries with confirmed human deaths are: Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China,
Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
* In total, the virus is known to have infected 277 people since 2003,
according to the WHO. Many of the dead are children and young adults.
* Vietnam and Indonesia have the highest number of cases, accounting for
105 of the total deaths.
* The H5N1 virus is not new to science and was responsible for an
outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Scotland in 1959.
Britain confirmed new cases in birds in Scotland in April 2006 and in
Suffolk earlier this month.
* H5N1 is not the only bird flu virus. There are numerous strains. For
example, an outbreak in 2003 of the H7N7 bird flu virus in the
Netherlands led to the destruction of more than 30 million birds, around
a third of the country's poultry stock. About 2.7 million were destroyed
in Belgium and around 400,000 in Germany. In the Netherlands, 89 people
were infected with the H7N7 virus, of whom one (a veterinarian) died.
* The H5N1 virus made the first known jump into humans in Hong Kong in
1997, infecting 18 people and killing six of them. The government
ordered the immediate culling of the territory's entire poultry flock,
ending the outbreak.
* Symptoms of bird flu in humans have ranged from typical influenza-like
symptoms, such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, to eye
inflammations (conjunctivitis), pneumonia, acute respiratory distress,
viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.
For a chronology of bird flu developments, double click on [ID:nL09373496]
For a Factbox of WHO figures for bird flu cases in humans, double click
on [ID:nL09373098]
(Sources: OIE, WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)