Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Azerbaijan tests 43 for bird flu in British lab
Azerbaijan has sent blood samples from 43 people to a British laboratory to test for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry did not say if all 43 had been classified as suspected bird flu cases. It said they had cold-like symptoms and not all were hospitalised.
“The Health Ministry decided to send blood samples (of the 43) to London to test for H5N1, since we don’t have the necessary equipment for this in Azerbaijan,” said Health Ministry spokeswoman Samaya Mamedova.
“These people came to us complaining of serious colds, they have not been hospitalised.”
Azerbaijan has a laboratory that can can test for H5 bird flu, but it cannot identify if someone is infected with H5N1, said the spokeswoman. She did not say if the 43 people had tested positive for H5 bird flu.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it believes the human bird flu outbreak in Azerbaijan has stabilised. The British laboratory is WHO-accredited.
Public health officials, citing local test results, said last week a 16-year-old girl had tested positive for bird flu.
She is in hospital and is responding to treatment, officials said. Her blood sample was among the 43 sent to Britain.
Hers was the first case of human bird flu infection in Azerbaijan since the first week in March.
Two other people in Azerbaijan have tested positive for bird flu and survived. One recovered, and the second is in hospital.