Iraqi H5N1 case confirms diagnostic challenges:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The demands placed upon diagnostic technologies in relation to controlling the avian flu virus H5N1 were highlighted again today, when the WHO retrospectively confirmed as positive Iraq's third case of the disease. The case, which was reported last March in Baghdad, presented with a mild form of the disease and recovered, but external verification tests proved inconclusive, probably as a result of sample deterioration in light of shipment difficulties. However, "repeated testing, using different methods, was needed for diagnostic confirmation," said the WHO. Two cases had been confirmed as H5N1 in January.