WHO insists Indonesian bird flu strain potentially deadly to humans
submited by kickingbird at Oct, 10, 2004 14:25 PM from XinhuaNet News
The Indonesian agriculture ministry´s director for animal health, Tri Satya Naipospos, said this week that preliminary test results from a Hong Kong center with which the WHO collaborates showed the H5N1 bird flu strain found in Indonesia was of a genotype that does not infect humans.
But WHO expert Steven Bjorge says all the bird flu outbreaks in Asia, which have killed at least 30 people in Vietnam and Thailand this year, are of the same Z genotype. The virus is highly pathogenic to birds and can also transmit to humans.
Thousands of poultry died in a bird flu outbreak in Indonesia early this year. In July, the country launched a major vaccination program to eradicate the virus, which was still lingering in some districts.
- GISAID: H5N1 Bird Flu Circulating in Dairy Cows in the United States 3 days ago
- USCDC: A(H5N1) Bird Flu Response Update 3 days ago
- USCDC: Avian Influenza A(H5N1) U.S. Situation Update and CDC Activities 10 days ago
- USCDC: Urgent field correction notice 10 days ago
- Joint FAO/WHO/WOAH preliminary assessment of recent influenza A(H5N1) viruses 11 days ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]