First human case of bird flu hits Japan

Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 22 Dec 2004 - 12:00 PDT

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Authorities in Japan have confirmed the country's first human case of bird flu. Four other people are being tested for suspected bird (avian) flu. Authorities say that none of the five patients is critical.

Four of them worked at a poultry farm near Kyoto. The same farm had a bird flu outbreak in February this year (no humans then, just chickens). The other person is a city official who was involved in disinfecting the farm during the outbreak.

Blood tests have shown that all five have tested positive for bird flu.

The city employee only suffered from a mild sore throat - he is fine now.

Health officials say the five people do not pose a public health risk - they have not developed any serious problems. Humans with bird flu cannot infect other humans.

Health experts around the world fear that one day the virus could mutate and then spread from human to human. They say the most likely way this could happen would be for a pig to become infected, the pig would then infect a human with a mutated virus, the human would then infect other humans.

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