Fifty-four people in Indonesian bird flu quarantine: WHO
Published: 5/31/2006
GENEVA - More than 50 people who may have come into contact with an Indonesian family decimated by bird flu have been placed in voluntary quarantine, the World Health Organisation said Wednesday.
The UN agency said the number of people in quarantine had increased to 54. But it said no new cases of infection by the potentially deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus have been detected since May 22 in the affected village in North Sumatra, where seven members of the same family were confirmed to have died earlier this month.
"This finding is important as it indicates that the virus has not spread beyond the members of this single extended family," said the WHO in a statement.
"Despite multiple opportunities for the virus to spread to other family members, health care workers or into the general community, it has not, on present evidence, done so."
However, as a precaution, Indonesian health authorities will keep monitoring the village for three more weeks -- one more than recommended by the WHO.
The people in quarantine, who include family members and other close contacts, are receiving the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu as a precaution and are being checked daily for flu symptoms, said the WHO.
Earlier this month, fears of possible human-to-human transmission of avian influenza were heightened after it was confirmed that the family members had died.
The emergence of a strain of bird flu that spreads easily among people would raise the spectre of a global flu pandemic like those which killed millions of people in the past.
The WHO said that the 37-year-old woman who was the first family member to fall sick appeared to have had contact with sick chickens, while the other victims had had close contact with her or fellow family members who subsquently fell ill.
However, said the WHO, there is no reason to hike the current alert level.
"There is no evidence that the virus is spreading in an efficient and sustained manner from one person to another," it said.
More than 120 people have died of bird flu around the world since late 2003, the vast majority of them in Asia.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has had more bird flu deaths than any other country this year.
05/31/2006 16:37 GMT
Published: 5/31/2006
GENEVA - More than 50 people who may have come into contact with an Indonesian family decimated by bird flu have been placed in voluntary quarantine, the World Health Organisation said Wednesday.
The UN agency said the number of people in quarantine had increased to 54. But it said no new cases of infection by the potentially deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus have been detected since May 22 in the affected village in North Sumatra, where seven members of the same family were confirmed to have died earlier this month.
"This finding is important as it indicates that the virus has not spread beyond the members of this single extended family," said the WHO in a statement.
"Despite multiple opportunities for the virus to spread to other family members, health care workers or into the general community, it has not, on present evidence, done so."
However, as a precaution, Indonesian health authorities will keep monitoring the village for three more weeks -- one more than recommended by the WHO.
The people in quarantine, who include family members and other close contacts, are receiving the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu as a precaution and are being checked daily for flu symptoms, said the WHO.
Earlier this month, fears of possible human-to-human transmission of avian influenza were heightened after it was confirmed that the family members had died.
The emergence of a strain of bird flu that spreads easily among people would raise the spectre of a global flu pandemic like those which killed millions of people in the past.
The WHO said that the 37-year-old woman who was the first family member to fall sick appeared to have had contact with sick chickens, while the other victims had had close contact with her or fellow family members who subsquently fell ill.
However, said the WHO, there is no reason to hike the current alert level.
"There is no evidence that the virus is spreading in an efficient and sustained manner from one person to another," it said.
More than 120 people have died of bird flu around the world since late 2003, the vast majority of them in Asia.
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has had more bird flu deaths than any other country this year.
05/31/2006 16:37 GMT