Indonesian bird flu victim likely to pass virus to relatives

The first person infected in a cluster of bird flu cases in a family in Indonesia may have come into contact with sick or dead chickens before possibly passing the virus on to relatives, a World Health Organization official said Friday.

The woman who grew vegetables and sold them in a market, may have brought her into contact with infected poultry, Steven Bjorge, a WHO epidemiologist in Jakarta, was quoted by The Jakarta Post newswire as saying.

Investigators also haven't ruled out contamination from chicken feces that the woman used as garden fertilizer, he said.

Officials have not linked her family members to any possible exposure to the virus from birds, which has led them to believe that limited human-to-human transmission may have occurred.

Expert from Surabaya-based Airlanga University, C.A. Nidom M.S., said human to human transmission of bird flu virus had occurred in Indonesia.

"I am sure that such a transmission has already occurred. H3N2 and H1N1 viruses, which are transformed from H5N1, have already been found," he said.

Nidom, a researcher with the Airlanga University's Tropical Disease Center added that there was no clue that the death of Iwan (bird flu casualty) from Tangerang, Banten, was caused by (virus from) poultry.

Six of the seven family members who caught bird flu in North Sumatra have died, the most recent on Monday.

An eighth family member who died was buried before tests could be done, but she was considered to be among those infected with bird flu.

The deaths in the family cluster were the largest ever reported. The WHO has stressed the virus has not mutated into a version easily passed between people or shown any sign of spreading outside the family.

Bjorge said a team of international health experts and villagers is closely monitoring the area where the family lived in North Sumatra to ensure no one else experiences flu-like symptoms.

Source: Xinhua