WHO: Bird flu virus mutated in Indonesia

June 23, 2006

By MARGIE MASON, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:35 a.m., Friday, June 23, 2006

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A World Health Organization investigation

showed that the H5N1 virus mutated in an Indonesian family cluster on

Sumatra island, but bird flu experts insisted Friday it did not

increase the possibility of a human pandemic.

The virus that infected eight members of a family last month --

killing seven of them -- appears to have slightly mutated in a 10-

year-old boy, who is suspected of having passed the virus to his

father, the WHO investigative report said.

It is the first evidence of possible human-to-human transmission of

the H5N1 virus, said Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist from the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He added that the virus

died with the father and did not pass outside the family.

" It stopped. It was dead end at that point, " he said, stressing that

viruses are always slightly changing and there was no reason to raise

alarm bells.

The findings appeared in a report obtained by The Associated Press

that was distributed at a closed meeting in Jakarta attended by some

of the world's top bird flu experts.

The three-day session that wraps up Friday was convened after

Indonesia asked for international help checking the virus, which has

killed 39 people there.

Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that spreads easily

among people, potentially starting a pandemic. So far, it remains

hard for people to catch, and most human cases have been traced to

contact with infected birds.

WHO concluded in its report that human-to-human transmission likely

occurred among seven relatives infected with the H5N1 virus in a

remote farming village on Sumatra island. An eighth family member who

was buried before specimens could be taken is believed to have been

infected by poultry, a WHO report said.

Despite the virus' slight mutation in the father and son, Uyeki

insisted that an analysis suggested there was " nothing remarkable

about these viruses. "

Bird flu has killed at least 130 people worldwide since it began

ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.

storyID=494130 & BCCode=BNHEALTH & newsdate=6/23/2006

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