Human Infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1) in Northern Vietnam, 2004-2005

We performed a retrospective case-series study of patients with influenza A (H5N1) admitted to the National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, Vietnam, from January 2004 through July 2005 with symptoms of acute respiratory tract infection, a history of high-risk exposure or chest radiographic findings such as pneumonia, and positive findings for A/H5 viral RNA by reverse transcription-PCR. We investigated data from 29 patients (mean age 35.1 years) of whom 7 (24.1%) had died. Mortality rates were 20% (5/25) and 50% (2/4) among patients treated with or without oseltamivir (p = 0.24), respectively, and were 33.3% (5/15) and 14.2% (2/14) among patients treated with and without methylprednisolone (p = 0.39), respectively. After exact logistic regression analysis was adjusted for variation in severity, no significant effectiveness for survival was observed among patients treated with oseltamivir or methylprednisolone.