May 20,2005

Possible human-to-human transmission increases avian flu's deadly risk

Avian influenza is likely to become a pandemic threat because it is becoming more easily transmitted among people, said the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE)

Based on influenza cases in northern Vietnam up to April last year, a study by the OIE found that the H5N1 virus is continually evolving while showing a higher rate of infection between humans. So far, close physical contact with birds has been the only means of contracting the bird flu virus.

Based on these findings, the World Health Organisation (WHO) argued that all nations, including those that have never been exposed to the virus, should promptly take pandemic contingency measures.

African and Asian countries with poorly developed health systems face the greatest risk of an epidemic among its human population in the event of an avian flu outbreak.

The WHO has also warned that should avian flu become a pandemic disease, millions of deaths may result with a level infectiousness similar to previous flu epidemics in the 20th Century.