Serious Bird Flu Outbreak In Indonesia

You may have been following the reports of the bird flu outbreak in Indonesia. Numerous people have been infected with the virus and most have died from it. The facts seem to indicate that the infections have spread from person-to-person contact. While WHO and local health officials have not confirmed this to be true, they cannot yet rule it out.

This is not the first human-to-human transmission scare in recent months. Others have occurred. As tempting as it is to report on one right away, I usually wait for the facts to come in. Because of the wide readership of this newsletter, I am careful not to cause unnecessary alarm. In all of the previous cases, a different cause for the outbreaks was eventually found.

Most of the time an outbreak in several members of a family initially looks like human-to-human transmission when in fact there are other causes. In these remote parts of the world, it is common for families to raise and eat their own poultry flocks. The usual cause of the outbreaks is from contact with sick birds or from eating sick birds in under-cooked meals, which is a common practice in many of these cultures.

One of the major causes of concern with the Indonesian outbreak is that, unlike other cases, this outbreak has occurred in a family that does not keep birds. One suspected cause is possible exposure to the virus in unsanitary meat markets where birds are slaughtered and sold.

In regard to the current outbreak in Indonesia, there is no need to panic. There is no pandemic occurring there. We must maintain a calm, objective look at the situation. Even if officials confirm human-to-human transmission, it does not mean this outbreak can trigger a pandemic. There are several reasons for optimism about this current cluster of outbreaks.

Officials have analyzed samples of this Indonesian virus and have confirmed that this strain is the same as previously known strains. It has not mutated. It is the same virus that has been monitored closely over that last few years.

Despite some commonly accepted notions, this virus strain has previously been known to spread from person-to-person on a very limited basis. This normally happened when a person came into close (improperly protected) contact with a patient at the height of illness, usually while providing care for the patient. In all of these cases, the spread has ceased after the first level of transmission. In other words, the second infected person has not spread it to a third person through causal contact. This limitation also applies to the Indonesian outbreak.

So far, the cases in this outbreak are linked to a single family. All of the people who have been infected were at some time in close contact with another family member who was sick.

Unless a mutated strain is found in this outbreak, it is highly unlikely the transmission will continue to spread. We should all be monitoring the situation closely, but not worry excessively about it unless major changes in the situation occur.

Read More:
How to Create a Basic Bird Flu Kit
http://avianflutalk.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=3

Sincerely,
Clint Fountain
Fluplan.com