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By Kathy Jones
Jun 23, 2006, 12:41
23 June, (foodconsumer.org) - An Indonesia woman who was the index case in the bird flu cluster last month was responsible for transmitting the deadly infection to other members of her family, a World Health Organisation official confirmed.
WHO also said that limited human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus did occur last month and that the H5N1 virus had mutated "somewhat." However the mutation was not serious enough to trigger an avian influenza pandemic.
Experts have feared this change in the form of the virus ever since it reemerged in 2003. They feel that if the virus mutates to a form easily transmissible between humans, a pandemic could occur and claim millions of lives globally.
The announcement of a minimal mutation of the virus in the Indonesian bird flu cluster was made at the end of a three-day conference in Jakarta called to discuss methods to control the spread of bird flu in Indonesia. The disease has so far claimed 39 lives in the country and has progressed rapidly since January this year.
Keiji Fukuda, coordinator of the WHO�s global influenza programme, said that the 37-year-old woman in the Sumatra village who was first infected transferred the virus to several members of her family. "So when she was coughing, they were very close to her, so there was close contact in a small room over many hours. We describe it as limited non-sustained transmission person-to-person," he said.
He was quick to add that the slight mutation in the structure of the H5N1 virus need not set alarm bells ringing, "It doesn't represent something which has made us more worried or set an alarm bell." Virological analysis of samples showed that those from a 10 year-old boy differed minimally from the others. He said that such changes were always occurring in the structure of the viruses.
Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the changes were small. And the H5N1 infections transmitted to humans stopped by itself and did not pass outside the cluster. The last reported case was the father of the family who died more than a month ago.
Maria Cheng, the spokeswoman for WHO said that the result had come from its investigation into a cluster of cases in northern Sumatra. Seven members of a single family were killed by bird flu in May. "There was a mutation found, it was in a report recently given to the (Indonesian) government. It was the summary of the investigation into the northern Sumatra case," she was quoted as telling by Reuters.
Malik Peiris, a leading H5N1 expert from Hong Kong, who attended the bird flu conference, said that there was no need to panic, "Influenza viruses always mutate. That's of course the reason why people are concerned that as we go on longer and longer the virus may change to become more transmissible. But that does not happen so far."
Experts at the conference voiced concern over the rapid progress made by bird flu in Indonesia, which is demanding $900 million over the next three years to fight the virus. The experts said that even though efforts had increased, it was not yet satisfactory.
The bird flu crisis seems to be poised to explode in Indonesia since the country has averaged one human bird flu death every 2 1/2 days in May
"Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza is widespread and well established in Indonesia but the full extent is unknown. It is believed that large numbers of animal infections are undetected," a joint statement by the experts said.
"The public is still lacking basic knowledge of the risks to their poultry and themselves and therefore their understanding of control methods in poultry and how to protect themselves is minimal." As one expert put it, "Its difficult to convince people that dead or dying chickens are dangerous."
The problem in the country was compounded by the earthquake last month forcing people to take shelter in poultry sheds that still had feathers are remains of the chickens.
Indonesia is expected o take over from Vietnam as the country with the maximum number of bird flu deaths shortly. Vietnam has officially recorded 42 deaths from the disease, while Indonesia is at 39. Around 26 of the deaths have occurred since January this year.
Bird Flu and its deadly footprints
* The bird flu virus originated in Hong Kong in 1997 and disappeared after that. It reemerged in 2003 and has since caused havoc worldwide.
* The H5N1 virus is primarily found in birds, but has jumped to humans and has so far caused the death of 127 people after reemerging in 2003.
* This year alone the disease has spread like wild fire and has hit many parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. The source of the virus remains a mystery with some scientists attributing it to wild birds that migrate from time to time.
* Till now the virus has only been transmitted after close contact with infected birds and coming in contact with saliva, nasal secretions, and feces.
* The fear is that if the virus mutates to an easily transmissible form between humans it would trigger a pandemic worldwide.
For more information on bird flu, click here