First direct human transmission of Bird Flu confirmed
Nanjing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A group of Chinese scientists this morning confirmed the first case of direct human transmission of the H7N9 virus, an evolved strain of bird flu that has killed more than 40 people in Asia since last March. According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, in fact, the infection is confirmed even if "limited and not sustainable." Bao Changjun, co-author of the study, however, urged the people to "stay calm. The transmissibility of the virus is not very effective."
The discovery was made by the Nanjing
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which studied two people who died
from the virus, a father and a daughter. The
father, aged 60, regularly frequented a market where live poultry are sold,
which in all probability led to his infection. The
man was transferred to two different intensive care units before he died, after
about a month and a half from the infection.
Two
weeks later his daughter of 32 also became ill. She however had no contact with
animals but was very close to her father during his hospitalization. An
analysis of the genome of the virus of the two patients confirmed transmission.
According
to the researchers the most plausible explanation for the chain of events is
that of a direct transmission between father and daughter, although the study
shows that the virus has not yet acquired the ability to be transmitted from
person to person in an efficient manner.
"But
this - said the study - reinforces the common view that the virus has the possibility
of becoming pandemic." So
far 133 confirmed cases of H7N9 infection have been reported, with 43 deaths. The
epidemic seems to have stopped, but experts believe "it may resurface with
the cold season."
The
fear of an epidemic spread of this virus paralyzed Asia in the summer of 2005,
when the first strain of the virus - H5N1 - spread across the Southeast and in
the eastern part of the continent. The
confirmed victims were more than 100, although Beijing's attitude - it refused to
cooperate for some time with the World Health Organization - has led many to
speculate over a higher number of deaths. Since
then, this form of flu was never completely defeated; rather it has mutated,
and continues to strike fear of a contagion of enormous proportions.
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31/01/2005
