Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - Since the end of 2003 bird flu has killed 36 people in Vietnam, twelve in Thailand and four in Cambodia. Now in Vietnam two cases of human infection by bird flu have been reported in less than a week.
The last time a person affected by the virus was in April. Experts fear the virus may change and become transmittable between humans unleashing a pandemic which could cause millions of deaths. Vietnamese doctors who are treating a 20 year old Cambodian woman say her conditions worsened since she was moved from the Cambodian province of Kampot. Tests on the patient have so far been negative but they will be repeated. Recently in a specialist hospital in Hanoi a party was organised after a 21 year old man affect by H5N1 in February and in a critical condition for some time, suddenly recovered, although he had already passed the disease on to his closest family members. (AP) (17/5/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:17; Parole:196)
