Bird Flu Facts about the Avian Influenza Virus

Eyewitness: Surviving bird flu

"Nguyen Thanh Hung knows he has been lucky.

The 42-year-old construction materials salesman has just been released from Hanoi's Hospital for Tropical Diseases, where both he and his older brother were patients.

Hung is now back at home with his wife and children. But his brother Nguyen Hung Viet died from his illness. Bird Flu Facts for Your Protection

Hung still does not know how they both contracted H5N1, the often deadly virus that causes the respiratory illness bid flu.

"I guess we both got it from the last meal we shared together," Hung said.

"I'd just got back to Thai Binh, where I'm originally from, to visit my brothers. They threw a welcoming dinner where we had our favourite dish, 'tiet canh', which is made with chopped congealed raw duck blood and herbs.

"The duck was plump and looking healthy, so we didn't have the slightest suspicion that it might be sick. Moreover, we were thinking chicken flu only exists in the south of the country," he said.

Just one day after the meal, Hung's eldest brother fell sick with a temperature.

But the family waited a whole week before they finally took him to hospital."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4226459.stm

posted by Scott Parat @ 2:02 AM