By Peter Gelling The New York Times
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2006
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia After further investigation, World Health Organization officials said Thursday that the five avian flu deaths confirmed this week on Sumatra were probably not a result of human-to-human infection and did not suggest that the virus had mutated into a more deadly form.
Five family members were confirmed dead from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza by the World Heath Organization on Wednesday, the largest such cluster yet recorded. A sixth family member died of flu-like symptoms but was not tested for the virus.
"We will likely never know the cause of her infection," Maria Cheng, a World Health Organization spokesperson, said Thursday.
Groupings like the one in Kubu Sembilang village in northern Sumatra worry health officials because they indicate the virus may have been transmitted between humans.
Health officials have long feared such a mutation could trigger a worldwide pandemic capable of killing millions.
Gina Samaan, a field epidemiologist for the World Health Organization in Kubu Sembilang investigating the recent cluster, said the number of deaths raised eyebrows but that so far it is similar to other outbreaks in Indonesia, which were caused by close contact with infected poultry.
"Current evidence doesn't suggest at all that the virus was passed between humans," she said in a telephone interview. "This is quite similar to other clusters found earlier in Indonesia in the sense of how people were infected."
The Sumatran outbreak does not appear to be spreading, which officials said was encouraging. Investigators are scouring the village to determine why only this particular family had caught the disease.
"It could be that they were near the source of the infection," Samaan said. "It could also be related to the dosage they received from the sick poultry, or it could be that there is something about this family that makes them more susceptible to the virus than other families."
Indonesia's death toll has now reached 30, second only to Vietnam, which has recorded 42. Indonesia, however, has been recording bird flu deaths at a much higher rate than any other country in recent months.
The World Health Organization lab in Hong Kong also confirmed a death related to bird fly in Surabaja, eastern Java, on Thursday. And local tests indicate that a young boy in the remote eastern province of Papua who died recently also had bird flu.
The latest fatalities prompted the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to ask the international community Thursday for additional financial and technical support to help terminate the spread of the disease.
The government has been hesitant to conduct mass culls, a regular practice in other Asian countries, because it is unable to compensate farmers.
Lack of public health education most likely accounts for Indonesia's high fatality rate, health officials say. In April, Indonesian bird flu patients reported their symptoms an average of five days after they began, making it difficult for physicians to prevent fatalities.
"It is an issue of how quickly people report their symptoms," Samaan said. "But we believe health care awareness is increasing. Doctors and nurses are becoming more familiar with the disease."
Jakarta, where the majority of the Indonesian deaths have occurred, all major hospitals and even smaller health clinics have plastered bright orange-and-yellow posters along their walls detailing bird flu symptoms and treatments. Booklets have also been distributed to far-flung villages throughout the country.
In the tiny village of Taman Jaya on Java's southwestern tip, villagers recently examined an informational packet form the Health Ministry, while chickens ran freely in the front door, through the kitchen, and out the back door.
A 6th Egyptian death
A 75-year-old woman died of bird flu in Egypt on Thursday, the sixth death from the disease in that country, Reuters reported from Cairo, citing John Jabbour, a World Health Organization official.
Jabbour said the woman was from Minya in southern Egypt. She had been in contact with infected poultry, he said, quoting information from the Egyptian authorities.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12833266/
"...Hong Kong virologist Guan Yi said the long time lag of nine days between the first and last victims showing symptoms of the disease was unusual.
“If they were all infected by the same source, their onset time (of illness) would have been closer, but that is not the case ... The later cases may involve the possibility of human-to-human transmission,” Guan told Reuters..."
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
Posted in portal.zjrp.com | edit
