The World Health
Organization representative in China says there is no sign that a new strain of
bird flu is spreading easily from person to person. But authorities say much is
still to be learned about the disease that has infected 87 and left 17 dead.
Chinese health
officials say more than half of those who have been sickened by the H7N9 strain
remember coming into direct contact with birds before getting sick. For the
other infected victims, how they got the disease is less clear.
Michael O’Leary, the
head of WHO’s office in China, says a group of 15 experts are on a weeklong
mission to Beijing and Shanghai to learn more about the disease and how it is
spreading. They will also be looking into several cases of the disease
where it appeared to be passed from human to human without direct contact with
birds.
“It's not unexpected
that if a person is sick and maybe is receiving very close care from a very
close contact that once in a while it will pass to the other person, but this
is not the same as sustained human to human transmission,” O'Leary said.
O’Leary says three
clusters of cases have been officially reported in China where such
transmission appears to have happened. One is of a father and son who died. In
the second case, a daughter caring for her sickened parent became infected as
well. The third case involved a husband and wife, both of whom were sick with
pneumonia, but only the wife has been confirmed as having H7N9.
Of the 87 cases that
were reported as of Friday afternoon, 64 are being treated, six have been
released from the hospital and 17 have died. The majority of the deaths have
occurred in the eastern city Shanghai, but cases have been reported as far
north as Beijing.
“That's a fairly high
mortality rate particularly because several others are in critical
condition," explained O'Leary. "But what we don't know is the size of
the iceberg under this tip.”
The source of the virus
and how it infects humans is still not known. Tens of thousands of birds have
been tested, but only a small number have been found to be carrying the virus.
China’s health and
agriculture officials have closed live poultry markets in a bid to keep the
virus from spreading and began culling birds in some cases. Officials say the
poultry industry has already suffered nearly $3 billion in loses as a result.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/who-says-no-evidence-of-human-to-human-bird-flu-infection/1644689.html
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