H5N1 Bird Flu Misdiagnosed as Dengue Fever?

H5N1 bird flu looks like dengue fever, and some experts say it's often misdiagnosed. Most developing nations do not have the resources or facilities to run the necessary expensive tests for accurate diagnosis, so they go with the "familiar" disease.

An Egyptian article I read recently reported that H5N1 bird flu is endemic in Peru - but I'd never heard that. Finally, I got round to a search this morning, but no results. Except for dengue.

From Egypt Independent: With high-tech system, Egypt hopes to avoid possible pandemic

H5N1, also known as avian influenza or bird flu, has apparently found a perfect environment to thrive in Egypt. Since the initial onset of the virus back in 2006, new outbreaks of the flu have occurred every single year, making Egypt one of the world’s few endemic countries for (H5N1), along with Indonesia and Peru. The government, taking the threat of a pandemic seriously, has launched annual vaccination campaigns to mitigate the number of fatalities in Egypt...

Peru: 450 cases of dengue reported in Cajamarca

On Thursday Cajamarca’s regional government approved a decree to spend 1.4 million soles in order to address the increasing cases of dengue fever in the region.

According to Peru21, there have been at least 450 cases of the dengue virus, in four areas in Cajamarca.

...In late January of this year, Ucayali was placed under a 60-day state of emergency after the region’s epidemiology agency reported 3 deaths, and 50 thousand cases of the dengue virus since October 2011.

Does anyone have any more info on H5N1 in Peru? Or any stats on misdiagnosing H5N1 as dengue?

ED to ADD: If H5N1 bird flu has been circulating around the world, unrecognized and undiagnosed - it's probably lost a lot of steam and virulence - meaning it's NOT the next big payday for Big Pharma. ...Always good to know the truth.



Thanks, sofi