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Reunion man in bird flu scare
26/10/2005 15:22 - (SA)
Saint Denis De La Reunion - Preliminary tests on a man hospitalised on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean indicate he might have contracted bird flu, the authorities said on Wednesday.
Conclusive test results on the 43-year-old patient - who recently returned from a trip to Thailand - will be known "before the end of the week", the government administrator's office on the island said in a statement.
The man was admitted to hospital on Saturday "for weakness and strong headaches", the statement said.
When he started coughing on Monday, "two samples taken to look for the flu virus H5N1 were taken from his nose and his throat. The first was inconclusive, the second was positive", the statement said.
"There is therefore a suspicion of flu of avian origin, even though the symptoms are not very indicative," the office said, adding that test samples had been sent to mainland France for more thorough analysis.
Observation
The man, in the meantime, remains in hospital under observation and is receiving anti-viral treatment.
Nineteen other people who went on the same trip to Thailand have been questioned about their health, authorities added. Two of them "have flu-type symptoms" and are undergoing tests, the results of which are not yet available.
The government administrator's office stressed that the H5N1 virus, borne by birds, "is not transmissible between humans" and that therefore no quarantine or other measures were being taken for the man's family or the island's population of 780 000.
However, it asked people planning a trip to countries affected by bird flu, "in particular Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, to avoid all contact with birds".
- AFP
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