Mexico denies WHO report of first death from bird flu AH5N2
Mexican government This Thursday he denied the death of a man from bird flu in the countryas the World Health Organization (WHO) said this Wednesday, which it accused of issuing a “pretty bad” statement announcing the world’s first human death from the AH5N2 virus.
“I can note that the statement from the World Health Organization is quite bad, since initially it was about a death, which was not the case. He died for another reason and without a solutionand only slightly suggests that the risk in this case is small,” said the Minister of Health, Jorge Alcocer.
At a morning government meeting, an official said the 59-year-old man reported to WHO died on April 24 from complications caused by diabetes and kidney failurebut not by the AH5N2 virus.
The head of the Ministry of Health (MHA) said that a meeting will be held this Thursday with an international organization “to clarify” the statement that announced the man’s death “as the first laboratory-confirmed case of influenza virus infection in humans.” AH5N2 has been registered worldwide.”
“This is a comment that should be taken with caution because “that’s not certain” – Alcocer commented.
The official acknowledged that the “cause” of death “was not specified, but was primarily renal and respiratory failure that occurred within a matter of hours.”
The victim, according to WHO, will be a man from the state of Mexico who died while being treated at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) in southern Mexico City, after several days of fever and difficulties. breathing, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise.
After his death, “most samples were taken and one of them was found to contain the AH5N2 virus, which is associated with avian influenza,” the health minister said.
“In this case, it could be an epidemiological warning, in the case of actions that are taken against workers caring for and working with birds, (but) this patient had none of those, he came from the state of Mexico due to those manifestations of a different type,” he said.
The secretary said that “there is no evidence yet of person-to-person transmission of the virus” and that the patient has “no history of contact with family” or his close circle that could explain the infection.
He also said that the Epidemiology Department has assessed “all of these contacts.”
“Therefore, and I emphasize, there is no reason to avoid or worry about chicken or its derivatives,” he said.
Hours earlier, the WHO held a workshop in Geneva where experts asked to warn of possible new cases following the case in Mexico, although they stressed that the risk of people becoming infected remained low.