[CanadaSue]

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:14238651220925626648::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,27470


***AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMANS - JAPAN (KYOTO): SUSPECTED

Date: Sat 18 Dec 2004
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Minute Herald, Associated Press report, Sat 18 Dec 2004 [edited]
<http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/health/10447940.htm?1c>


Japan: Five People May Have Contracted Avian Influenza Virus Infection
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOKYO: Four employees of an avian influenza virus contaminated poultry farm
and one person who helped disinfect the facility may have contracted avian
influenza virus infection during an outbreak early this year in Japan, the
government stated on Sat 18 Dec 2004. If confirmed, the cases would mark
the first human cases of avian influenza virus infection in Japan.

The five were based in rural Kyoto state, about 230 miles west of Tokyo.
Researchers found antibodies to avian influenza virus in blood samples taken from the five in February and March, but were unable to determine if any of them had actually contracted the disease, the Health Ministry said in a statement. The Ministry plans to issue a more detailed report on Wed 22 Dec 2004.

Avian influenza has swept through farms across Asia this year, forcing officials to cull more than 100 million birds. The disease also jumped to humans, killing 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam. There is no
concrete evidence of human-to-human transmission, but experts fear the
virus could mutate to a form that could spread among humans, sparking a
global pandemic.

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Although it is not stated it must be assumed that it has been determined
that the infection contracted by the Japanese poultry workers was caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus responsible for the
current extensive outbreak in East Asia. It appears that the five poultry
workers were exposed to avian influenza virus during an outbreak in Feb/Mar
2004 and suffered no significant illness, unlike the cases reported from
Thailand and Viet Nam where there was severe disease and a high mortality
(73%). The information released so far suggests that the five poultry workers may have been exposed to virus antigen and developed a detectable immune response, but may not have contracted virus infection. Further information is awaited.

ProMED-mail acknowledge receipt of similar reports from David Ozonoff,
Henry Niman and an anonymous correspondent in Japan. - Mod.CP]***

I'm guilty of assuming H5N1 but Japan didn't have outbreas of H5N2 or other known avian strains.

Looking forward to the statement by the japanese govt. Wednesday. ONe other positive note. 5 contracted it or were infected - no serious illnesses, no complications, no deaths. Right now, 32 deaths from 44 known cases is a 72.7% case fatality rate.

32 dead from 49 cases is a 65.3% case fatality rate. I'll take every lowering of that percentage I can find..

[booger]

Not much more info here but it does confirm H5N1:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=342055

Five People in Japan May Have Bird Flu Virus

Dec 18, 2004 — By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO (Reuters) - Five people in Japan may have been infected with the bird flu virus after an outbreak among chickens in February, but there is no risk they will develop symptoms and no chance of more infections, the government said on Saturday.

Blood tests showed that five people who were involved in work such as the culling of chickens after an outbreak of avian flu in Kyoto in western Japan in February had developed an antibody to the virus, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

"There is a possibility that they were infected from this case but a positive antibody (result) is not enough to reach a conclusion… In any case there is no risk that they will develop symptoms," the ministry said.

"Since the five people … have not developed symptoms of bird influenza and there is no risk of them developing symptoms in the future and no possibility of new infections to others, the Health Ministry thinks this is not a problem for public health," it added.

The ministry said it was conducting a thorough assessment of the five positive antibody test results, adding that it planned to make a report around Wednesday.

If confirmed the cases would mark the first human infections of bird flu in Japan, which reported several cases of bird flu earlier this year.

All of those cases have been identified as the H5N1 virus, the strain that has hit other countries in Asia and been blamed for human deaths in Vietnam and Thailand.

FIRST INFECTION?

Nobuhiko Okabe, a director at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said the chances seemed high that at least one of the five, a worker at a poultry farm, had been infected.

"That's what we think based on the results of testing," he said, but added that there could be changes in the assessment.

Okabe said it may be difficult to determine for certain whether or not the five had been infected, but added that it was possible to say with a greater degree of certainty in the case of the farm worker, since the person gave blood serum samples twice.

The five people have not exhibited any symptoms typical to influenza, although there had been some light symptoms such as coughing, Okabe said in a brief telephone interview.

"In any case, none of them were serious… There were, at least, no symptoms typical of influenza," he said.

"There is nothing for them or the people around them to worry about."

The Health Ministry said four of the people were workers at a poultry farm while the other person who tested positive was a worker for a livestock hygiene service center.

In all, 58 people were tested including farm workers and workers for the Kyoto prefectural government, it said.

Okabe said the tests were conducted around March and April only for people who agreed to be tested.

Earlier, Kyodo news agency said four of those reported infected had worked at a farm in the town of Tamba in Kyoto prefecture.

The other person had helped disinfect the farm after a bird flu outbreak among chickens in February, it added.

After the February outbreak, some 240,000 chickens and 20 million eggs were disposed of at the Kyoto farm and another one nearby to prevent the infection from spreading, the agency said.

Copyright 2004 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.