HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Limited human-to-human bird flu transmission may have occurred in Pakistan, but no new infections have been reported for two weeks and there appears to be no threat of further spread, a top World Health Organization official said.
A WHO team has finished its initial investigation in Pakistan after up to nine patients, including several family members, were suspected of being infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus in areas north of Islamabad. They were the country’s first reported human cases.
The experts were expected back in Geneva to begin piecing together how the virus may have spread, but they found no evidence of anyone currently sickened by the virus, Dr. David Heymann, the WHO’s top flu official in Geneva, told The Associated Press by telephone Friday.
“I think the team right now feels on initial analysis that this might be a small chain of human-to-human, non-sustained transmission,” he said, stressing there was no cause for alarm.
He said the last reported case was on Dec. 6. Pakistani health officials have conducted initial testing on the samples, and found them to be positive, but WHO has sent the specimens to one of its collaborating laboratories for confirmation.
At least 209 people have died worldwide from the virus, which began plaguing Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. It remains hard for people to catch, but scientists worry it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.
Most cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but scientists believe limited human-to-human transmission has occurred a few times before among blood relatives who had close contact.
Five brothers were sickened last month in the small city of Abbotabad, about 30 miles north of Islamabad. One was a veterinarian who was involved in slaughtering sick poultry infected with bird flu. Two of his brothers fell ill and died, one of whom was buried before tests were conducted. The veterinarian and his other two brothers recovered.
Up to five other people in the same area also tested positive for the virus in preliminary tests.
Meanwhile, Indonesia, which is the world’s hardest-hit country with 93 human deaths, also reported Friday that five people from an extended family had been hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in an area where bird flu was earlier reported in poultry. Specimens have been taken to determine whether any of the relatives were infected with the H5N1 virus.
Myanmar reported its first human case last week and a number of other countries have recently reported poultry outbreaks during the winter months when the virus typically flares.
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Tags: bird flu, H5N1, Health Ministry, Infection, Poultry, Virus, WHO
2 responses so far ↓
1 WHO Investigates Bird Flu in Pakistan - Bird Flu Protection, Avian Flu News // Dec 23, 2007 at 1:31 am
[…] story Sana and posted with Elliott […]
2 Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann // Dec 24, 2007 at 11:43 am
H5N1 avian flu: Spread by drinking water into small clusters:
Human to human and contact transmission of influenza occur - but are overvalued immense. In the course of Influenza epidemics in Germany recognized clusters are rarely (9% of the cases in the season 2005).
In temperate climates the lethal H5N1 avian flu virus will be transferred to humans strong seasonal in the cold via cold drinking water, as with the birds feb/mar 2006.
Recent research must worry: So far the virus had to reach the bronchi and the lungs in order to infect humans. Now it infects the upper respiratory system (mucous membranes of the throat e.g. when drinking and mucous membranes of the nose and probably also the conjunctiva of the eyes as well as the eardrum e.g. at showering). In a few cases (Viet Nam, Thailand) stomach and intestine by the H5N1 virus were stricken but not the bronchi and the lungs. The virus might been orally taken up, e.g. when drinking contaminated water.
The performance to eliminate viruses of the drinking water processing plants in Germany regularly does not meet the requirements of the WHO and the USA/USEPA. Conventional disinfection procedures are poor, because microorganisms in the water are not in suspension, but embedded in particles. Even ground water used for drinking water is not free from viruses.
In temperate climates the strong seasonal waterborne infections like norovirus, rotavirus, salmonellae, campylobacter and - differing from the usual dogma - influenza are mainly triggered by drinking water dependent on the drinking water temperature (in Germany minimum feb/mar – maximum august). There is no evidence that influenza primary is transmitted by saliva droplets. In temperate climates the strong interdependence between influenza infections and environmental temperatures can’t be explained with the primary biotic transmission by saliva droplets from human to human with temperatures of 37.5°C. There must be an abiotic vehicle like cold drinking water. There is no other appropriate abiotic vehicle. In Germany about 98% of inhabitants have a central public water supply with older and better protected water. Therefore in Germany cold water is decisive to virulence of viruses.
In hot climates/tropics the flood-related influenza is typical after extreme weather and natural after floods. Virulence of Influenza virus depends on temperature and time. If young and fresh H5N1 contaminated water from low local wells, cisterns, tanks, rain barrels or rice fields is used for water supply water temperature for infection may be higher as in temperate climates.
Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann
eMail soddemann-aachen@t-online.de
http://www.dugi-ev.de/information.html
Epidemiological Analysis:
http://www.dugi-ev.de/TW_INFEKTIONEN_H5N1_20071019.pdf
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