Friday, June 23, 2006

Bird Flu Passed From Son to Father, W.H.O. Says

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
The New York Times
June 23, 2006

An Indonesian man who died of H5N1 bird flu caught it from his 10-year-old son, the first laboratory-confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the disease, according to a World Health Organization investigation of an unusual family cluster of bird-flu cases.

The investigators also found that the virus mutated slightly when the son had the disease, although not in any way that would allow it to pass more readily among people. Flu viruses like H5N1 mutate constantly, although most of the mutations are insignificant biologically; that appears to be have been the case in the Indonesian cluster.

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Genetic Evidence of Human Transmission of H5N1 in Indonesia

Recombinomics Commentary
June 23, 2006

Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from a 10-year-old boy who died from the H5N1 avian influenza strain showed a minute change that was also found in a virus sample taken from his father who later died from the virus, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva.

``We have seen a genetic change that confirms in a laboratory that the virus has moved from one human to another,'' Thompson said in an interview. The change in the virus ``doesn't seem to have any significance in terms of the pathology of the disease or how easily it's transmitted,'' he said.

Human-to-human transmission had previously been suspected as the cause of infection in seven members of the Indonesian family from the island of Sumatra. The cases attracted international attention because they represent the largest reported instance in which avian flu may is likely to have spread among people. They also provide the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.

The above comments include the first reported genetic link supporting human-to-human transmission of H5N1 bird flu. In the past, the evidence was largely limited to disease onset dates. However, the gaps between the onset date of the index case and other family members has been present in the vast majority of clusters, dating back to the 2003 cluster in the Hong Kong family that had visited Fujian Province.

These data add to the accumulation of evidence for human-to-human transmission within families and between families in Turkey. These clusters have involved several versions of H5N1 including clade 1 and clade 2 and are common.

However, the cases in Karo created the largest and deadliest reported cluster in Indonesia, which highlights minor changes in the H5N1 genes. These changes are not public because the human sequences have been withheld and are sequestered in a private WHO database. Although Indonesia has indicated that the data could be released, only HA and NA sequences from the first confirmed case in Indonesia have been released.

These sequences should be released immediately.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Bird flu human transmission probable in Indonesia

Bird flu human transmission probable in Indonesia

JAKARTA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Human-to-human transmission of bird flu probably occurred in Indonesia's seven cluster cases, a minister said. But he ruled out a pandemic of H5N1 across the archipelago.

"Limited human-to-human transmission may have occurred in small clusters in the country. It has not only happened in several regions in Indonesia but also in Azerbaijan and other places in the world," Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said Friday after a meeting with agencies involved in curbing the spread of the disease.

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Highly pathogenic strain of bird flu detected in Hungary, says EU

Time is GMT + 8 hours

Posted: 9-Jun-2006 22:56 hrs

Hungarian authorities have detected a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu in a flock of domestic geese although tests are yet to show whether it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
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The European Union's executive arm said Friday officials have slaughtered all 2,300 geese in the flock and are also culling poultry and ducks within a one kilometer (mile) radius of the site in Bacs-Kiskun, southern Hungary.
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Samples had been sent to the European Union's reference laboratory in Weybridge, outside London, to determine whether the outbreak is the H5N1 avian influenza virus.
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If confirmed, it would mark the fifth outbreak of H5N1 in domestic poultry in an EU state after earlier cases in France, Sweden, Germany and Denmark. Outbreaks of H5N1 have also been detected in wild birds in thirteen EU countries.
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More than 120 people have died from bird flu since late 2003, most of them in Asia, and world health officials fear that the H5N1 virus could mutate into one spread via human-to-human contact. — AFP

Friday, June 02, 2006

Nurse Hospitalized With H5N1 Bird Flu Symptoms in Bandung

Recombinomics Commentary
June 2, 2006

A 25-year old nurse identified by her initials as `Ci` is currently being treated at the Hasan Sadikin Hospital here for bird flu-like symptoms.

"We could not confirm whether she is positive of having been infected by avian influenza virus or not, although she had earlier have contacts with siblings, 18-year old Ad and 10-year old Ai, who died of bird flu virus recently," he said.

The ailing nurse has never had contact with poultry, but she had treated the sibling when being treated at Ujungberung Hospital, where Ci works as a nurse.

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Bird flu kills 8-year-old Indonesian girl, country sees spike in cases

JAKARTA, Indonesia

An 8-year-old girl has died of bird flu, a health official said Friday, citing local tests, as a spike in human cases has put Indonesia on pace to soon become the world's hardest-hit country.

The World Health Organization has yet to confirm the death, which would bring the country's official death toll from the H5N1 virus to 37.

The girl, from Pamulang on the outskirts of Jakarta, died late Thursday after apparently coming into contact with sick poultry, said Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official.

The girl's 10-year-old brother died three days earlier with similar flu-like symptoms, but no samples were taken, said Dr.Hariadi Wibisono, a senior official at the national Health Department. The boy died in an emergency room before being treated, and the family immediately took him home for burial, he said.

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Thursday, June 01, 2006

Indonesia slaughtering poultry in bird flu area: 1 death every 2 1/2 days

03:48:09 EDT Jun 1, 2006
MARGIE MASON

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Officials began slaughtering poultry Thursday in an Indonesian village where preliminary tests showed a 15-year-old boy had died from bird flu, as the country struggled with a sudden rise in deaths averaging one every 2 1/2 days.

All chickens will be killed within one kilometre of the boy's house in the Tasikmalaya district of West Java province, said Budi Utama, head of the local animal and fisheries agency. Indonesian tests on Wednesday found that the boy had contracted the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, and officials were awaiting confirmation from a World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong.

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Bird Flu Explodes in Indonesia

By MARGIE MASON
AP Medical Writer
May 31, 2006

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia averaged one human bird flu death every 2 1/2 days in May, putting it on pace to soon surpass Vietnam as the world's hardest-hit country.

The latest death, announced Wednesday, was a 15-year-old boy whose preliminary tests were positive for the H5N1 virus. It comes as international health officials express growing frustration that they must fight Indonesia's bureaucracy as well as the disease.

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