China confirms human H5N1 transmission

AP
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Chinese health officials have confirmed that a father caught bird flu from his son last December, according to a report released Tuesday.

Human-to-human transmission of bird flu has happened about a dozen times in the past, in countries including Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Turkey. In nearly every case, transmission has occurred among blood relatives who have been in close contact, and the virus has not spread into the wider community.

In the case in China, a 52-year-old man and his 24-year-old son in Jiangsu province were diagnosed with H5N1 bird flu within a week of each other last December. At the time, officials from the World Health Organization said they could not rule out the possibility of human-to-human transmission.

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After the son died, his father was treated with antivirals and participated in an H5N1 vaccine trial. He survived.

The son's only exposure to bird flu was at a poultry market, while the father apparently had no direct exposure to sick birds. His only known exposure to bird flu was close contact with his ill son.

Full article here.

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