Human-to-Human Transmission A Possibility In Latest Bird Flu Case

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently on a fact-finding mission in China to determine if the most recent human bird flu death and subsequent infection of a relative was the result of a human-to-human transmission, or from a common source.

Early indications appear to put this latest cluster in the human-to-human category and this would be somewhat alarming. Would it mean a pandemic could be near? Not necessarily. The key here is whether this was 'efficient' human-to-human transmission and more importantly if the strain of H5N1 bird flu in these cases represents a unique strain/mutation not seen previously.

The facts in this case state that a 24 year-old boy died of H5N1 bird flu on December 2nd and one day later his 52 year-old father developed a fever. Early indications are that this is 'inefficient' human-to-human transmission and the strain of H5N1 found in the boy and father is of the same strain found in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Nonetheless, any time we receive news of any form of human transmission, it should serve as a warning.

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Human-to-Human Transmission A Possibility In Latest Bird Flu Case

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