Japan Has First Case of Bird Flu in Human

[villager]

Japan Has First Case of Bird Flu in Human



By KOZO MIZOGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO - Japan reported its first case of bird flu in a human on Wednesday — a man who got the disease from birds. Bird flu has swept through farms across Asia this year, forcing officials to cull more than 100 million birds. The disease has also jumped to humans, killing 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam.

Although there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission, experts worry that the virus could mutate into a version easily spread among people, setting off a global pandemic.

The man caught the bird flu virus while disinfecting a contaminated poultry farm in western Kyoto during an outbreak in Japan earlier this year, the Health Ministry said.

<snip>

It was the first confirmed case of human infection from the disease in Japan, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the man showed no symptoms other than a headache that lasted several days.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041222/ap_on_he_me/japan_bird_flu

[Thurston Howell IV]

1. Epidemiologists are expecting the big one soon

I recent read an article in which they expect a major flu pandemic relatively soon, with 10's of millions dying. Yikes!

[NMDemDist2]

2. hmmm Pandemic_1918 has been posting warnings about just such

a transmission for a month :scared:

[villager]

3. I guess the next step is to watch how it spreads around Japan...

...but then, with air travel, the "jump" from there to everywhere else... seems shorter...

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. This was still bird-to-human transmission

so air travel is irrelevant - if you meant aeroplanes, anyway. Some birds that can fly distances can still catch it, of course :-)

[villager]

7. well, right, since the human-to-human transmission

seems not to be confirmed yet. So I was a "mutation" ahead of myself!

[fortyfeetunder]

9. Pacific Rim states, watch out!

Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California...where we might see this first....

[steely]

4. I wonder if it'd be too late to get a flu shot....

to have it do any good?

Does it have to "cook" for a while (in you) to be effective?

They say they're available now, despite *'s inaction.

[villager]

5. it wouldn't matter for this strain...

I haven't heard of any "bird flu" shots even in Asia...

[frustrated_lefty]

8. This is going to be nasty.

The next step is a mutation resulting in human to human spread, which is a far simpler step than a mutation resulting in bird to human spread. I doubt millions will actually die....but millions could easily be afflicted.

[CAcyclist]

10. It's the H5 and H7 strains that are deadly

to humans. This article didn't state which avian flu strain this was, but the current avian flu strain is an H1, which, while infective to humans , is not likely to become pandemic in humans. It was an H5 strain that caused the human deaths in Thailand and Vietnam.

I think it is very important to understand the grave threat that avain flu holds for humans, but the details are extremely important.