WHO: H5N1 virus mutated in Indonesia

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WHO: H5N1 virus mutated in Indonesia

2006/6/24JAKARTA, Indonesia, AP

A World Health Organization investigation showed that the H5N1 virus mutated slightly 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 then suspected of passing the virus to his father, the WHO investigative report said. It is the first evidence indicating that a person caught the virus from a human and then passed it on to another person, said Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adding that the H5N1 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. 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 wrapped up Friday was convened after Indonesia asked for international help. The country has experienced an explosion of human bird flu cases this year and is on pace to become the world's hardest-hit nation with 39 deaths. The government said it needed US$900 million over the next three years to fight the virus, which is ravaging poultry stocks across the archipelago, as health experts urged full implementation and funding of its national bird flu plan. "Human cases and clusters are expected to continue to occur in Indonesia as long as avian influenza in poultry persists," said Bayu Krisnamurthi, Indonesia's national bird flu coordinator. But Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said the virus has shown no sign of changing in any way that would allow it to spread easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

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