Six Human Bird Flu Cases Probably Not Due To Human Transmission, WHO

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Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 18 May 2006 - 9:00 PDT

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According to the World Health Organization, the six human cases of bird flu death confirmed in Indonesia this week are unlikely to be the result of human-to-human infection. The WHO says that further investigations lead scientists to believe that H5N1 has not mutated.

Six family members were infected, of which 5 have died. They are all from Kubu Sembelang village, Karo district, North Sumatra. Five of them lived in neighbouring houses. A seventh family member, a 37-year-old woman, also died. However, specimens were not gathered before her burial, so no one can be sure what she died of. The women developed bird flu like symptoms on 27 April and died one week later. If she did have bird flu, she would have been the first case in this cluster.

The other family members are related to this 37-year-old woman as follows:

-- Two sons, aged 15 and 17 - died May 9 and May 12
-- Sister, aged 28 - died May 10
-- The above sister's daughter, aged 18 months - died May 14
-- Brother, aged 25, still alive
-- Nephew, aged 10, died May 13

A few days ago doctors wondered whether there may have been another human case in this family. However, lab tests proved negative for H5N1 infection, the symptoms subsided and the person got better. Doctors said this person's symptoms were not the same as typical bird flu like ones.

Epidemiolgists from WHO and the Indonesian Ministries of Health and Agriculture still don't know what the source of this cluster infection was. It is the largest cluster so far reported from any country. It is thought the most likely reason for infection was exposure to infected birds or their faeces.

Investigators say there had been a large family gathering on April 29. It is possible there was a shared environmental exposure. Even though WHO says human-to-human exposure is unlikely, it has not ruled that possibility out yet.

So far, no infections have been identified outside this family cluster among other family members, close friends, neighbours, other villagers, or health care professionals who had been attending the infected patients. Scientists believe that if the virus had mutated more people would have become infected by now.

The total of confirmed human cases in Indonesia now stands at 40, of which 31 have died.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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