Mexico's health secretary denies death of resident due to bird flu subtype

MEXICO CITY

Mexican Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer on Thursday denied an announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) that a man’s death in Mexico was caused by a strain of bird flu that had never before been found in a human.

During a morning briefing, Alcocer rebuffed the WHO’s announcement and assured that the 59-year-old man, who was reported to have died from the A(H5N2) strain of avian influenza, “died from other causes, mainly kidney and respiratory failure.”

Alcocer urged people to remain calm and to take the WHO’s announcement with caution because it is "not accurate."

"I can point out that the statement made by the World Health Organization is pretty bad, since it speaks of a fatal case (of bird flu), which was not the case," he said.

On Wednesday, the WHO announced that a resident of Mexico became the world’s first person to die from a bird flu strain not previously detected in humans.

According to WHO, the man had numerous underlying medical conditions and had been bedridden for three weeks before developing acute symptoms. On April 17, he reported fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise.

On April 24, he sought medical attention and was promptly hospitalized at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER), reportedly dying the same day.

According to Alcocer, the WHO failed to recognize that the patient died from complications resulting from longstanding health problems such as diabetes and renal failure and not avian flu.

He said investigations found no contagion around the people who had contact with the patient.

"So far, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission," he added.

In its briefing, the WHO detailed that the Mexico National Influenza Centre confirmed the positive result for A(H5N2) influenza.

Alcocer was scheduled to meet with the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases later in the day for more details.