No poultry link in some flu cases

WHO says it can't rule out human-to-human transmission

REUTERS

GENEVA/BEIJING: The World Health Organisation said today that a number of people who have tested positive for a new strain of bird flu in China have had no history of contact with poultry, adding to the mystery about the virus that has

killed 16 people to date.

Chinese authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and closed some live poultry markets to try and stem the rate of human infection, but many questions remain unsolved including whether the H7N9 strain is being transmitted between people.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl confirmed that “there are people who have no history of contact with poultry”, after a top Chinese scientist was quoted as saying about 40 per cent of those with the H7N9 flu had had no poultry contact. “This is one of the puzzles still (to) be solved and therefore argues for a wide investigation net,” Hartl said in emailed comments, though he did not know the exact percentage.

Several avenues should be explored by an international team of experts going to China soon, including the possibility that the virus can be spread between people, although there is “no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission”, Hartl said.

“It might be because of dust at the wet markets, it could be another animal source beside poultry, it could also be human-to-human transmission,” he added by telephone.

Wendy Barclay, a flu expert at Imperial College London, said it was likely to be very difficult to determine and rule out people’s exact exposure to poultry — and to wild birds, which could also be a possible source of infection.

“The incubation time might be quite long so visiting a market even 14 days before might have resulted in infection,” she said.

Previously the WHO reported two suspected family “clusters”, but later said the virus was found not to have infected anyone in the first. Tests in the second were inconclusive and experts say the poor quality samples may make it impossible to know.

China has warned that the number of infections could rise from the current 77.

The latest victims are from the commercial capital of Shanghai, where the majority of the cases have been found, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

China reported three new bird flu outbreaks to the World Animal Health Organisation this week, bringing the total number of places to 11, the OIE said on its website.

Patient leaves hospital

BEIJING: A seven-year-old girl who contracted the H7N9 strain of bird flu left hospital on Wednesday and appeared before media in an apparent bid by health authorities to cool concerns about the deadly virus.

The daughter of poultry traders was Beijing’s first confirmed human case of the virus. Wearing a bright blue coat and pink backpack, she said she was feeling “much better”, at a press conference held by hospital authorities.

“I miss home... I want to return home and play,” she said. She wore a face mask, in what hospital authorities said was a measure to protect her identity.