WHO trys to discover how bird flu infects humans

cctv.com 01-19-2004 14:58

The World Health Organization has confirmed that one more person has died of bird flu in Vietnam, raising the death toll to five. Ten WHO experts are in the country's southern provinces, to help local medical workers battle against the highly contagious disease. Their top priority is to determine the channels through which the virus is transmitted to humans.

The latest victim is an 8-year-old girl from the northern province of Ha Tay. She died just two days after being hospitalized. So far, the five victims are all from northern provinces of Vietnam.

WHO experts say this particular H5N1 strain of the virus is very similar to the one that claimed six lives in an outbreak in Hong Kong, more than six years ago. So far, 15 Vietnamese provinces have reported having bird flu, 8 in the north and 7 in the south. WHO experts warn that although there are still no cases of human infection found in the south, the situation is by no means encouraging. They point out, however, that the vaccination of people who have close contact with poultry farms and processing industries remains an effective means to prevent human infection.

In a special report released last week, the WHO says, so far it has not seen any sign of transmission of the virus between humans. But the agency also warns it's highly likely that the H5N1 virus could get incorporated with the normal human flu virus and mutate to cause more infections.

Editor:Xiao  Source:CCTV.com