Doctors Warned to Watch for Weird Flu Cases
- 11 years ago
The H5N1 strain of bird flu recently claimed the life of a young Canadian woman who didn’t appear to have the typical cluster of symptoms associated with the illness.
Since then, the CDC has issued a statement warning doctors to be on the lookout for strange cases.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu recently claimed the life of a young Canadian woman who didn’t appear to have the typical cluster of symptoms associated with the illness.
Since then, the CDC has issued a statement warning doctors to be on the lookout for strange cases.
When the woman was initially examined she was found to have some swelling around the brain and was suffering from pneumonia, but she didn’t have the telltale cough.
She did report having a headache and malaise, but as those are common symptoms of H1N1 she was sent home.
Although she’d just returned from China, doctors didn’t consider it a factor as she was mostly in Bejing, where poultry handling is closely monitored.
Plus, fatal cases were at the time unprecedented in North America.
Nonetheless, two days later she returned to the hospital, but by then her case was so advanced there was nothing they could do to save her.
The CDC is now cautioning doctors to consider avian flu as a diagnosis, even when more common strains are heavily circulating their area.
As for the Canadian woman’s case, experts say they may never figure out how she got it or why her symptoms were so atypical.
Since then, the CDC has issued a statement warning doctors to be on the lookout for strange cases.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu recently claimed the life of a young Canadian woman who didn’t appear to have the typical cluster of symptoms associated with the illness.
Since then, the CDC has issued a statement warning doctors to be on the lookout for strange cases.
When the woman was initially examined she was found to have some swelling around the brain and was suffering from pneumonia, but she didn’t have the telltale cough.
She did report having a headache and malaise, but as those are common symptoms of H1N1 she was sent home.
Although she’d just returned from China, doctors didn’t consider it a factor as she was mostly in Bejing, where poultry handling is closely monitored.
Plus, fatal cases were at the time unprecedented in North America.
Nonetheless, two days later she returned to the hospital, but by then her case was so advanced there was nothing they could do to save her.
The CDC is now cautioning doctors to consider avian flu as a diagnosis, even when more common strains are heavily circulating their area.
As for the Canadian woman’s case, experts say they may never figure out how she got it or why her symptoms were so atypical.