Bird flu death brings new worry
Concern over probable human-to-human infectionSeptember 29, 2004 Edition 1
Thailand yesterday confirmed its 10th death from bird flu and the first probable case of human-to-human infection in an outbreak that has swept Asia this year.
Pranee Krongkaew, 26, died eight days ago and probably caught the disease while caring for her sick 11-year-old daughter in hospital, officials said on Monday. The girl also died this month from suspected bird flu.
But officials played down the worst fears of the World Health Organisation (WHO), that the virus could have mutated into a highly contagious form that would trigger a global human flu pandemic.
"This probable human-to-human transmission of avian influenza was related to a single index case and was limited within a family," according to a statement by Thailand's public health ministry.
"Although the finding of probable human-to-human transmission is clearly of concern, there is currently no evidence of ongoing chains of transmission or risk to persons outside of the affected province."
The World Health Organisation yesterday confirmed that it was examining a "probable" first full case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu in Thailand.
However, a WHO spokesman said the case appeared to have been confined to the immediate environment of the victims.
"We agree that it's a probable human-to-human case," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said. "It raises our concern, that's for sure, but it's not unexpected."
Asia has been hit by two waves of the disease since December last year that have left 29 people dead in Thailand and Vietnam and killed more than 100 million birds across the region.
The first 28 deaths were linked to close contact between infected birds and humans.
While the disease spreads quickly between birds, no human-to-human cases had been confirmed during the Asian outbreak, but experts could not rule out the possibility.
The ministry statement said experts believed that from current information there was "no evidence to suggest that the virus has mutated".
A mutated bird flu outbreak was blamed for the deaths of as many as 40 million people worldwide in 1918.
Kamara Rai, the WHO's acting representative for Thailand, told reporters yesterday there was no need to panic.
"We have all agreed the probable human-to-human transmission has occurred through a direct, face-to-face and long contact," Rai said.
"Even if this limited episode of human-to-human were confirmed, it does not pose a significant public health threat so there is no reason to panic."
The 11-year-old girl lived with her aunt, also confirmed on Monday as having bird flu but recovering, in a village in northern Kamphaeng Phet province where a large number of chickens had died from bird flu.
Pranee, from near Bangkok, visited her daughter in hospital. She looked after her until she died and remained in the province until after her cremation. Pranee fell ill after she returned home.
Charal Trinvuthipong, director-general of Thailand's disease control department, said tests could not confirm she had caught the disease from her daughter.
"The lab test found Pranee was confirmed with H5N1 and the question is where she got it from."
He said she visited the house for two days during her visit. "There were some chickens left at the same time, and she also had close contact with her daughter before she died."
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government would hold a meeting this Sunday to discuss "intensive" measures to combat the disease that has hit 30 of the country's 76 provinces in the latest wave.
Nineteen cases of suspected bird flu in humans remain under investigation in Thailand but dozens more have been cleared of links to the virus.
Two global bodies warned on Monday that the bird flu epidemic was a "crisis of global importance" and the virus was unlikely to be eradicated soon.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health warned that avian influenza would "continue to demand the attention of the international community for some time to come".
"A permanent threat to animal and human health continues to exist," the joint statement said.
