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Man catches bird flu days after virus killed son
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Sun, Dec 09, 2007
The Straits Times
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BEIJING - THE father of a Chinese man who died of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been similarly infected, raising the possibility of human-
to-human infection, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported.
The 52-year-old from Nanjing city in the eastern province of Jiangsu began developing a fever and pneumonia symptoms on Monday.
Ms Joanna Brent, a Beijing-based WHO spokesman, said on Friday that the man, surnamed Lu, was confirmed as having the virus on Wednesday after being hospitalised for treatment.
'Because the possibility of human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, we will be monitoring this case closely,' she said.
| 'If it is found to be easily passed between humans, we would be concerned.'
For now, the spokesman said, there was no evidence that Mr Lu had been infected by his 24-year-old son who died last Sunday.
But that possibility could not yet be eliminated, she said, adding that it was also possible that both men had been infected by the same source, or that they had been infected separately by different sources.
Yesterday the official Xinhua news agency said Mr Lu was recovering.
Jiangsu's Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Centre said Mr Lu's son - the 17th person to die of bird flu in China - had not had any known contact with dead poultry, and there were no reported outbreaks of the disease in the province.
Ms Brent said the health authorities were monitoring another 68 people who had been in close contact with the son, none of whom have so far shown symptoms of H5N1 infection.
She said this seemed to indicate it was unlikely that the virus, which has caused more than 200 deaths since 2003, was being easily passed between humans.
The deadly H5N1 strain has passed from one human to another only in very rare cases, but scientists fear that such transmission could become more efficient and widespread through mutation, causing a global pandemic.
Should this arise, the death toll could be anywhere from five million to 150 million.
Experts say the virus has not been able to commingle its genetic material with that of a human influenza virus, which can be transmitted from person to person.
Most of the people killed by the disease so far had been infected by domestic fowl.
AP, AFP, Reuters
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