Alarm bells ring over bird flu threat

Recent cases of bird flu infecting humans in southeast Asia have raised fears about the possibility of a new strain of human flu that could spark a pandemic. The new outbreaks of the influenza virus (strain H5N1) in poultry in Asia were linked by sporadic reporting of human cases of infection with this virus in Vietnam and Thailand last year. By the end of last month, there had been 54 cases of of this strain of avian influenza in humans in Vietnam and Thailand resulting in 41 deaths. This avian flu outbreak in Asia is not expected to diminish significantly in the short term, according to the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta. " It is likely that H5N1 infection amongst birds has become endemic to their region and that human infections will continue to occur. " A teenage girl has become the eleventh victim of bird flu to die in Vietnam inside a month while a Cambodian woman with symptoms of the disease was last month admitted to hospital. Such cases are raising fears that bird flu may be starting to appear as a human pathogen and escalate concerns over the extent of the threat posed by the disease. A teenager from a southern province of Vietnam died nine days before her mother also died from the infection after the two of them had slaughtered a duck. But the real worry is human-to human infection. The World Health Organisation said that this is being investigated and cases must be closely followed 'to determine whether the epidemiological behaviour of the virus might be changing in ways that could favour the onset of a pandemic.' Many health officials believe the next global outbreak will come from southeast Asia. If the virus infects someone already harboring the human flu virus, the two could combine, producing the worst aspects of both — a potentially lethal and extremely contagious new strain. Thai authorities believe a recent case of avian flu in a human patient passed directly to other family members, sparking global fears about a possible new flu pandemic. Nigel Williams reports. Bird threat: There is growing vigilance about avian flu and its infection of humans in southeast Asia with one report of a direct transmission from human to human, which is increasingly worrying scientists and health officials. Recombination of genes between bird flu and human influenza could trigger a new pandemic.