iran continues to deny H5N1

TEHRAN, May 27 (Reuters) - Iran's Health Ministry said on Saturday the country had no human cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, dismissing statements by a medical official and lawmaker that early tests showed a third person had died of it.

A senior medical official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that preliminary tests in the northwestern city of Kermanshah showed a 30-year-old man died on Wednesday morning from H5N1 bird flu. He said this would be the third death after a 41-year-old man and his 26-year-old sister were also shown by preliminary tests to have died of bird flu in Kermanshah, which lies some 100 km (60 miles) from the Iraqi border.

The World Health Organisation said on Thursday it had asked Iran for details on the tests run on the two dead pneumonia patients that the government said were negative for H5N1. Kermanshah's parliamentarian Jahanbakhsh Amini was quoted by the Etemad-e Melli newspaper saying: "Preliminary tests on three members of a family who died in a suspicious manner in Kermanshah were positive." However, Amini told Reuters these samples were then sent to Tehran where laboratories reported they were negative. The Health Ministry said no "credible" tests had delivered a positive result on H5N1. "The Health Ministry denies any news of bird flu cases in Kermanshah," it said in a statement.

Joe,

Let's not get into that again.

Causes of Pneumonia:

Mycoplasma pneumoniae- causes ‘walking pneumonia’ rarely fatal and only somewhat contagious.

 

Klebsiella Pneumonia – bacterial pneumonia- present in the lungs of most people, rarely causes disease, only imuno-compromised people get sick. Usually is a secondary disease, non contagious.

 

Serratia Pneumonia – bacterial pneumonia-usually secondary disease-non contagious. Usually non-fatal.

 

Legionella pneumonphila-‘Legionnaires Disease’ found in contaminated water source. Wind blowing across contaminated water causes bacillia to go airborne, not H2H. Not usually fatal.

 

Q-Fever-caused by a rickettsiae bacterium found in livestock dung, not H2H, not usually fatal.

 

Psittacosis- caused by pet birds like parrots, not H2H, not usually fatal. Symptoms resemble influenza.

 

Pneumococcal pneumonia- caused by streptococcus pneumonia, not H2H, usually found in imuno-compromised patients as a secondary disease.

 

These are the major causes of pneumonia, although there are some other bacterium that cause the illness I’ve been unable to find any that are highly contagious. With the exceptions of Legionnaire’s disease and Q-Fever it is very rare to see pneumonia in clusters. Also note that neither Legionnaire’s nor Q-Fever is highly fatal.  So, I suppose it is possible that a family of five people could all get sick with pneumonia at the same time and what is it three(?) die.  The highest mortality rates from pneumonia come as a secondary illness caused by influenza. Hmmm. Maybe pigs can fly too.

Do not attack religious beleifs on these forum if you dont agree post elsewhere . Lord know we should have our freedom . There is room for everyone here.     

I'm not attacking religion, though it seems by implying that I should go elsewhere you're attacking ME for criticizing religious NUTS (not you and not the 99% of people who belong to various religions and who are ordinary, reasonable folk.) In the same breath you just told me there's room for everyone here -- and you just told ME TO LEAVE because there's apparently no room for my views. And you don't even know what my views are, really!

Or are you saying is will be okay for the Christian flavor of religious nuts to claim that bird flu is a punishment levelled on the heathens? Which was the ghist of my post.(We'll hear this, I guarantee it, sooner or later -- pretty much an echo of the Muslim version which is that bird flu is a punishment from allah leveled against us infidels.)

Leva

Deanna wrote: Do not attack religious beleifs on these forum if you dont agree post elsewhere . Lord know we should have our freedom . There is room for everyone here.

    In the same breath you just told me there's room for everyone here -- and you just told ME TO LEAVE because there's apparently no room for my views.

Well said Ruth