China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

[sharon sanders]

<table class="lan18" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="97%"><tbody><tr><td class="hei22" height="25" valign="bottom"> China's latest human case of bird flu infected by close contact
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> www.chinaview.cn 2008-01-10 12:05:53
BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's health authority confirmed here on Thursday that the latest human case of bird flu in the eastern province of Jiangsu came from close contact with his ill son instead of a mutated human-to-human virus. "It has no biological features for human-to-human transmission," said Mao Qun'an, Health Ministry spokesman.
An epidemiological investigation showed the father was infected through close contact with his son who died from the H5N1 bird flu strain in Nanjing, the provincial capital.
Neither had been found to be in contact with dead poultry, Mao said, adding the bird flu cases in Nanjing had been effectively contained.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/10/content_7398344.htm

[GaudiaRay]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

How can this be? I believe WHO is still analyzing the sequences.

We will know in 2099.

Right?

[GaudiaRay]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

In all seriousness, this is a responsible action on the part of China.

I wish to be the first to congratulate them for being forthright. They set an example for the rest of the member states of WHO.

[GaudiaRay]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

...and we still want the sequences released so the polymophisms can be known and their comparison around the world can be examined (by anyone but those who camp on the sequences and the information they reveal.)

[Sally Furniss]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

China Says Human Source of Bird Flu Likely in Two Latest Cases

By Zhang Dingmin
Enlarge Image/Details

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Human-to-human spread probably occurred in China's two most recent bird flu cases, a health ministry official said.

Preliminary findings of an investigation into the cases involving a father and son in Nanjing city in the eastern province of Jiangsu last month indicated that ``close contact'' was the most likely cause of their infection with the H5N1 avian flu virus, ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said in a Webcast briefing from Beijing today.

Human transmission wasn't sustained and the outbreak was ``brought under control effectively and rapidly,'' Mao said. No diseased birds were found near where the men lived, making it difficult to determine an animal source. He said the likelihood of person-to-person spread was higher for the father, who developed fever on Dec. 3, a day after his 24-year-old son died.

Disease trackers monitor clusters of two or more linked cases to gauge whether the virus is becoming adept at infecting humans, not just birds. Millions of people could die if H5N1 develops the characteristics of seasonal flu and begins spreading easily between humans through coughing and sneezing.

Evidence that the H5N1 virus is spreading easily between people, including health-care workers, could prompt the World Health Organization to raise its level of pandemic alert.

The agency's six-phase alert system is at 3, indicating a new influenza virus subtype is causing disease in humans, but isn't spreading efficiently and sustainably among humans.

There was no biological evidence that the H5N1 strain that had infected the men in Nanjing more closely resembled a human virus, and the 52-year-old father has recovered from his illness, Mao said.

At least 348 people in a dozen countries have contracted the virus since 2003. Three of every five cases were fatal and most were caused by contact with infected poultry, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or plucking feathers, according to the Geneva-based WHO.

China has reported 27 human H5N1 infections, 17 of which were fatal.

To contact the reporter for this story: Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at Dzhang14@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=abAvvqq4Gp_A&refer=healthcare

[KBD]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

what's not clear are whether the son caught his virus from a bird, ?food source or a third person.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

China says son likely infected father with bird flu

Thu Jan 10, 2008

BEIJING, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A Chinese man who died of bird flu last month likely passed the disease on to his father, but there is no evidence the virus mutated into a form which can be easily passed between humans, an official said on Thursday.

The man in the eastern province of Jiangsu was diagnosed with the H5N1 strain of bird flu days after his 24-year-old son died from the disease.

This rare case of two family members struck by the disease drew concern from health authorities, because humans almost always contract H5N1 from infected birds.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a strain that jumps easily from person to person, risking wider outbreaks.

Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said it was likely the man had caught bird flu from his son.

"The initial judgment is that it was an infection from close contact," Mao told a news conference, carried live on government Web site www.china.com.cn.

"It has no biological features for human-to-human transmission," said Mao, adding the father had now recovered.

Mao had already said in December that samples had indicated no mutation of the virus.

But the ministry still did not know the cause of the initial infection, as neither had had any contact with sick or dead birds, he said.

The virus does have a limited capacity for human-to-human transmission, and other cases have been reported in Asia.

With the world's biggest poultry population and millions of backyard birds, China is at the centre of the fight against bird flu. There have been other cases of human infection without confirmed outbreaks among birds in the same area.

The latest cases brought the number of confirmed human infections of bird flu in China to 27, with 17 deaths. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)

http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSPEK272883

[KBD]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

Latest from Bloomberg here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...fer=healthcare

Human Source of Bird Flu Likely in Latest China Cases (Update1)

By Zhang Dingmin

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Human-to-human spread probably occurred in China's two most recent bird flu cases, a health ministry official said.

Preliminary findings of an investigation into the cases involving a father and son in Nanjing city in the eastern province of Jiangsu last month indicated that ``close contact'' was the most likely cause of their infection with the H5N1 avian flu virus, ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said in a Webcast briefing from Beijing today.

Human transmission wasn't sustained and the outbreak was ``brought under control effectively and rapidly,'' Mao said. No diseased birds were found near where the men lived, making it difficult to determine an animal source. He said the probability of person-to-person spread was greater for the father, who developed fever on Dec. 3, a day after his 24-year-old son died.

Disease-trackers monitor clusters of two or more linked cases to gauge whether the virus is becoming adept at infecting humans, not just birds. Millions of people could die if H5N1 develops the characteristics of seasonal flu and begins spreading easily between humans through coughing and sneezing.

Evidence that the H5N1 virus is spreading easily between people, including health-care workers, could prompt the World Health Organization to raise its level of pandemic alert.

The agency's six-phase alert system is at 3, indicating a new influenza virus subtype is causing disease in humans, but isn't spreading efficiently and sustainably among humans.

There was no biological evidence that the H5N1 strain that had infected the men in Nanjing more closely resembled a human virus, and the 52-year-old father has recovered from his illness, Mao said.

No Dangerous Mutation

``Human-to-human transmission through close contact between the son and the father cannot be ruled out in this family cluster,'' said Hans Troedsson, WHO's representative in China, in an e-mail today. ``However, the biological findings at this stage show that the virus has not mutated to a form that can be transmitted from human to human efficiently.''
The source of the son's infection hasn't been confirmed, Troedsson said. The 24-year-old developed symptoms on Nov. 24, was hospitalized three days later and died on Dec. 2.

``The possibility of animal-to-human infection cannot be excluded'' in the son's case, Troedsson said.
At least 348 people in a dozen countries have contracted the virus since 2003. Three of every five cases were fatal and about a 10th of them occurred in a cluster. Most cases were caused by contact with infected poultry, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or plucking feathers, according to the Geneva-based WHO.

China has reported 27 human H5N1 infections, 17 of which were fatal.

To contact the reporter for this story: Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at Dzhang14@bloomberg.net

[HenryN]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

what's not clear are whether the son caught his virus from a bird, ?food source or a third person.

Actually, a high percentage of cases in many countries, including China and Indonesia don't have an obvious source.

This is frequently overlooked in media reports and such reports frequently also deny H2H because it isn't PROVEN, which is virtually impossible to prove in 2 person clusters.

However, clusters with time gaps in disease onset dates are H2H until proven otherwise and most clusters including this recent cluster from China, have such gaps.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12210704/H5N1_H2H_Media_Myth.html

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02040603/H5N1_H2H_Most.html

WHO knows better, but apparently the media doesn't.

If a family member gets a RARE infectious disease, and then another family member gets the same RARE disease 5-10 days later, there are very few who would say its due to bad food eaten weeks ago at a restaurant.

H5N1 remains the theater of the absurd.

[hawkeye]

Re: China Confirms H2H Transmission of Recent H5N1 Cases

China CFR: 62.9%

Bird flu case in Jiangsu sees son infect the father

The son is dead and the father is under medical care. China?s foreign ministry tries to be reassuring, saying there is no evidence the virus has mutated and made human-to-human transmission possible. With the world?s largest poultry industry China is the world?s greatest incubator for the disease.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) ? A 24-year-old man died in December in Jiangsu from the avian flu and may have passed it on to his father, but there is no evidence the virus mutated into a kind of flu which can be easily transmitted from human to human.

?The initial judgment is that it was an infection from close contact,? said Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an. But in the Jiangsu case, there were ?no biological features for human-to-human transmission.?

What is known is that the father, who got sick just before his son died and is now in intensive care, did not come into contact with dead or diseased birds.

It is not known however how the young man who died got infected since he, too, is known not have come into contact with infected birds.

The H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus has so far been transmitted by diseased birds and this has limited the contagion. But there are fears it might mutate and that humans might infect one another. Should this happen the world might face a pandemic.

However, the suspected human-to-human infection is also but the latest in a number of suspected cases in which people are said to have infected other members of their family.

With the world?s biggest poultry population and millions of backyard birds, China is at the centre of the fight against bird flu. Millions of animals have been vaccinated.

The most recent cases have brought the number of confirmed human infections of bird flu in China to 27, with 17 deaths, but there are fears that figures might higher because not all cases have been reported.

Another outbreak, on December 29, occurred in the city of Turpan in the remote Xinjiang region. It killed almost 5,000 fowl and led to the culling of 35,000 more.

Since 2003 the H5N1 has killed about 200 people, almost all in Asia, and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide, this according to the World Health Organisation.