Vietnam sisters may have got bird flu from brother: WHO
Vietnam sisters may have got bird flu from brother: WHO
Christina Pantin Reuters Hanoi
Two sisters in Vietnam have died after contracting the deadly bird flu virus -- possibly from their brother -- marking the first human-to-human transmissions recorded in the current epidemic, the UN's health agency said on Sunday.
While the source of infection for the two sisters cannot be conclusively identified, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it "considers that limited human-to-human transmission, from the brother to the sisters, is one possible explanation".
The deaths brought to 10 the number of people known to have died after the virus, which has decimated poultry flocks across Asia, made the leap to humans.
The WHO can't entirely be sure of how the sisters contracted the disease, because their brother died of respiratory ailments before any tests could be conducted on him.
Scientists believed, and health officials hoped, that the disease could only be contracted through exposure to infected birds or droppings, and not from person to person.
With the disease now taking a foothold in 10 Asian nations, China's state television on Sunday reported five more suspected cases of bird flu, bringing to 11 the total number of areas affected in the world's most populous nation.
The Vietnamese sisters, aged 23 and 30, both died on Jan. 23, the WHO said. Their brother died before them.
Six other people in Vietnam have died from bird flu.
The WHO said an investigation into the family's illness failed to uncover any contact with sick poultry or "an environmental source".
"At the same time, such exposures cannot be discounted, either," it said.
Two boys have died in Thailand from bird flu, and two other Vietnamese have been confirmed as having the virus but have recovered or are still in hospital.
The WHO said it saw no evidence of "efficient" transmission between people of the H5N1 virus "in Vietnam or elsewhere".
The possibility of human transmission is not unprecedented. The WHO noted that in the 1997 Hong Kong outbreak, there were cases of "limited" human-to-human spread of the virus.
"The incidences of human-to-human transmission in Hong Kong never developed into a significant public health threat," it said.
Hanoi's National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology had said last week it was certain the sisters had died of bird flu.
But the WHO waited for tests at a laboratory in Hong Kong to confirm the results before signing off on the Vietnam institute's findings.
Vietnam has heightened its fight against the flu, banning the transport of poultry nationwide. Some 44 provinces out of Vietnam's 64 provinces and major cities have reported outbreaks.
Millions of poultry in Vietnam have been culled or killed by the virus.
China shut down poultry processing factories in bird flu-hit regions as workers stepped up culling and vaccinating to stymie the rapidly spreading disease.