Bird flu jumps transmission barrier in humans
By Tom Clifford, Assistant Editor
Published: 1/10/2005, 07:48 (UAE)
DUBAI - Bird flu has broken the transmission barrier and jumped from human to human, according to the World Health Organisation.
Most cases have been bird to human but transmission between people increases fears of a global pandemic.
The acknowledgement came on a day when the organisation had to backtrack on the number of potential deaths forecast from a bird flu pandemic created by widespread human-to-human infection.
Dr David Nabarro said on Thursday, less than one day into his new role as the UN coordinator for global readiness against an outbreak, that measures taken by the world today would determine whether bird flu ended up killing five million or as many as 150 million people.
The figure of 150 million deaths was quickly played down by the WHO yesterday.
"There is obvious confusion, and I think that has to be straightened out. I don't think you will hear Dr Nabarro say the same sort of thing again," WHO influenza spokesman Dick Thompson told a news briefing.
The UN health agency said it has warned countries to prepare for a death toll of up to 7.4 million.
The 1918-19 'Spanish flu' outbreak, the most lethal flu pandemic so far recorded, claimed 50 million lives, far more than the 15 million killed in the First World War.
But the flu has jumped the barrier of human-to-human transmission.
"There have been four, maybe five cases of humans getting it from other humans," Thompson told Gulf News from the organisation's Geneva headquarters.
"All of these have been in Asia. But it is important to note that it was not passed on to more humans. The chain ended at those four or five who caught it."
The world has coped with pandemics before, Thompson said.
Seasonal flu normally kills up to 500,000 in any year
Story here
Published: 1/10/2005, 07:48 (UAE)
DUBAI - Bird flu has broken the transmission barrier and jumped from human to human, according to the World Health Organisation.
Most cases have been bird to human but transmission between people increases fears of a global pandemic.
The acknowledgement came on a day when the organisation had to backtrack on the number of potential deaths forecast from a bird flu pandemic created by widespread human-to-human infection.
Dr David Nabarro said on Thursday, less than one day into his new role as the UN coordinator for global readiness against an outbreak, that measures taken by the world today would determine whether bird flu ended up killing five million or as many as 150 million people.
The figure of 150 million deaths was quickly played down by the WHO yesterday.
"There is obvious confusion, and I think that has to be straightened out. I don't think you will hear Dr Nabarro say the same sort of thing again," WHO influenza spokesman Dick Thompson told a news briefing.
The UN health agency said it has warned countries to prepare for a death toll of up to 7.4 million.
The 1918-19 'Spanish flu' outbreak, the most lethal flu pandemic so far recorded, claimed 50 million lives, far more than the 15 million killed in the First World War.
But the flu has jumped the barrier of human-to-human transmission.
"There have been four, maybe five cases of humans getting it from other humans," Thompson told Gulf News from the organisation's Geneva headquarters.
"All of these have been in Asia. But it is important to note that it was not passed on to more humans. The chain ended at those four or five who caught it."
The world has coped with pandemics before, Thompson said.
Seasonal flu normally kills up to 500,000 in any year
Story here
posted by ... at 11:56 AM
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