'Likely' more human-to-human bird flu infections in Indonesia
RAW STORY
Published:
Saturday June 3, 2006
Print This | Email This
"In the wake of a cluster of avian flu cases that killed seven members of a rural Indonesian family, it appears likely that there have been many more human-to-human infections than the authorities have previously acknowledged," writes Donald G. McNeil Jr. in an article slated for Sunday's New York Times, RAW STORY has learned.
Also, the Associated Press reports that an aid agency has issued a warning about earthquake survivors in Indonesia who may be in danger of contracting avian flu (link).
"Bird flu could threaten survivors of Indonesia's earthquake, an aid agency warned, after finding people whose homes were destroyed staying in dung-smeared chicken sheds," reports En-Lai Yeoh for the AP.
"More than 50 people were staying Saturday in two large chicken coops in Pentong in Bantul district," the AP article continues. "Flies buzzed everywhere, and children played barefoot on bamboo slats encrusted with chicken droppings."
"We are concerned that people using poultry sheds as shelter are at risk from avian flu and possibly salmonella infection," said Dr. Bayugo, of the British medical aid agency Merlin, the AP reports.
Excerpts from the NY TIMES article:
#
The numbers are still relatively small, and they do not mean that the virus has mutated to pass easily between people -- a change that could touch off a worldwide epidemic. All the clusters of cases have been among relatives or in nurses who were in long, close contact with patients.
....
Until recently, World Health Organization representatives have said there were only two or three such cases. On May 24, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated that there had been "at least three." Then, on May 30, Maria Cheng, a WHO spokeswoman, said there were "probably about half a dozen."
And Dr. Angus Nicoll, chief of flu activities at the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, acknowledged that "we are probably underestimating the extent of person-to-person transmission."
#
FULL TIMES ARTICLE HERE
|
