Vietnamese Family Tested Positive For Pneumonia Not Bird Flu

Health officials, on Tuesday declared that the four Vietnamese family members have tested negative for the bird flu tests. They were admitted in the hospital as they were suspected to have had bird flu, after eating sick chickens.

The doctor at Nam Can Hospital in the southern province of Ca Mau said that all the required tests were conducted thoroughly, and found that they did not have flu.

Thousands of ducks and chickens were killed and few areas were disinfected after the first case of bird flu was suspected on Dec 11 in Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang, the three provinces of Mekong delta.

"They tested negative for the H5N1 strain of bird flu," said Phan Van Tu, chief virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City. "They were suffering from pneumonia."

Vietnam has not witnessed any human cases infected with bird flu, even though the first outbreak of H5N1 outbreak was seen in August. However, the agriculture officials that the possibility of it occurring again is high anywhere in the country, as the migration of wild birds and smuggling of poultry was very high.

The poultry transport across the border has been tightened by the government, especially in the provinces bordering China. According to them, the consumption of poultry increases during the Lunar New Year festival, and the chances of bird flu spreading at that time are more.

Vietnam is known for its extensive usage of poultry vaccinations, using careful surveillance methods, and various other methods of curbing bird flu in the country since forty-two human deaths out of ninety-one were reported since late 2003 due to H5N1 bird flu virus.

Bird flu is characterized by fevers, coughing, decreased white blood cells and damaged lungs.

The symptoms of Pneumonia are cough with greenish or yellow sputum, a high fever that may be accompanied by shaking chills, shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, a sharp or stabbing pain, either felt or worse during deep breaths or coughs.

Sometimes, people may cough up blood, experience headaches, or develop sweaty and clammy skin. Loss of appetite, fatigue, blueness of the skin, nausea, vomiting, and joint pains or muscle aches are other symptoms of it. If Legionella causes pneumonia, it might cause abdominal pain and diarrhea, while if it is caused by tuberculosis or Pneumocystis, it might just cause only weight loss and night sweats.