Posted on 02/02/2004 9:43:10 AM PST by CathyRyan
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday sought to cool fears of a bird flu pandemic following news of a possible first case of human transmission of the virus that is sweeping Asia.
The United Nations health agency believes at least two Vietnamese, one of whom died last month, may have caught the virus from another member of their family rather than directly from poultry.
But the head of the WHO's Global Influenza Program, Klaus Stohr, said person-to-person transmission should be no surprise because it had occurred in limited numbers in apparently similar avian flu outbreaks, notably in Hong Kong in 1997.
"Human-to-human transmission would not be unexpected...There are increasing signs that the viruses are similar (to Hong Kong)," he told journalists.
The incident in Vietnam, the first possible case of human contagion since the epidemic erupted early last month, did not alter the WHO's overall state of alert, he said.
"There is no increase in our level of concern. We are still at level zero when it comes to a pandemic. Nothing has changed since last week. There is no pandemic," Stohr said.
Millions of poultry have been culled in a bid to stamp out the virus which has swept through 10 Asian countries, notably Thailand, Vietnam and China. Twelve people have died.
Health authorities fear that if bird flu mixes with the normal human strain of influenza, which is rife at this time of year, it could create a new, potentially killer virus against which people would have no protection.
PREVENT MATING
The WHO has called for those involved in the culls and others exposed to diseased poultry, along with health workers, to be immunized against normal flu in the hope that this will prevent the viruses from mating.
But Stohr said that these vaccines were no use against bird flu itself, and would not help in a pandemic. Together with drugs companies, the WHO is rushing to develop a special vaccine to fight the avian flu but it will not be ready for six months.
The current virus did not seem to be more infectious or easily transmittable than that which struck Hong Kong seven years ago, killing six people.
That was a hopeful sign as the Hong Kong strain had weakened sharply in transmission among humans, he said.
Furthermore, the current outbreak was at least three weeks old and thousands of people had been exposed to the virus, with only a handful of confirmed cases among people.
"This reconfirms that we have an opportunity to deal with (it) providing we can eliminate the animal reservoir in a safe way," he said, referring to WHO concerns workers carrying out the culls often did not take adequate precautions.
In the Vietnam case, Stohr said the evidence suggested that two women had caught the disease without having been in direct contact with a diseased bird being prepared for a wedding feast.
"(But) the information is not 100 percent clear," he said.
There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic. There is no pandemic.
According to government authorities, There will be no pandemic!
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