WORLD / Asia-Pacific
WHO: Bird flu likely spread among family members
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-22 14:34
JAKARTA, Indonesia - The World Health Organization concluded that
human-to-human transmission likely occurred among seven relatives who
died from bird flu on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, while an animal health
expert said the disease was more widespread in poultry than previously
thought.
In a report obtained by The Associated Press, WHO experts said the
cluster's first case was probably infected by sick birds and spread the
disease to six family members living in a remote village. One of those
cases, a boy, then likely infected his father, it said.
The U.N. agency stressed the virus had not mutated in any major way and
that no cases were detected beyond members of the family, who died last
month.
"Six confirmed H5N1 cases likely acquired (the) H5N1 virus through
human-to-human transmission from the index case ... during close
prolonged contact with her during the late stages of her illness," the
report said.
The report was distributed at a closed meeting in Jakarta attended by
some of the world's top bird flu experts. The three-day session that
wraps up Thursday, was convened after Indonesia asked for international
help. The country has recorded the world's highest number of human bird
flu cases this year, and 39 of those infected have died.
More outbreaks also are occurring in poultry than earlier thought, said
Jeff Mariner, an animal health expert from Tufts University working with
the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Jakarta.
He is coordinating a pilot project that involves local surveillance teams
conducting field interviews to track backyard poultry that have rapidly
died. The teams then use bird flu test kits to identify outbreaks.
In the 12 pilot districts on Java Island, 78 poultry outbreaks were
detected from January to May. Birds discovered in those outbreaks were
slaughtered to limit the spread of infection.
"We thought there was dramatic underreporting, but we never imagined that
it would be so pervasive," Mariner said on the meeting's sidelines.
"These numbers of outbreaks only represent, say, a third of the coverage
in the district."
The experts were expected to discuss Sumatra's large family cluster
during the session. One of the remaining mysteries is why only blood
relatives - not spouses - became infected.
The WHO report theorizes the family shared a "common genetic
predisposition to infection with H5N1 virus with severe and fatal
outcomes." However, there is no evidence to support that.
Keiji Fukuda, WHO's coordinator for the Global Influenza Program in
Geneva, said the Indonesian case appears to resemble other family
clusters where limited human-to-human transmission occurred following
close contact. He said scientists must find out whether anything is
different about the way the virus is behaving.
"The really critical factor is why did that cluster develop?" he said.
"What's the reason why people in a cluster got infected?"
Bird flu has killed at least 130 people worldwide since it began ravaging
Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. Experts fear the virus will mutate
into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a
pandemic. So far, it remains hard for people to catch, and most human
cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
Indonesian officials said the country lacks manpower and money to battle
the H5N1 virus alone. The government has been saddled with a series of
natural disasters, including the 2004 tsunami and an earthquake last
month on Java Island.
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