Suspect H5N1 Bird Flu Cluster in North Sumatra Ind

Metrotvnews.com, Medan: Lima the assumption patient

 of bird flu that comes from one family in the

 Karo Regency, North Sumatra, up to now was still undergoing the intensive maintenance in Adam's Hospital the Owner and the Hospital Saint Elizabeth, Medan.
Beforehand, their family's two members, Roy Karokaro and Anta Beru Ginting, died resulting from the illness with the same sign.
The condition for the five patients, up to now, it was reported still is critical.
The five patients that is Jones Ginting, Boni Karokaro, Renaita Beru Tarigan, Rafael Ginting, and Obviously Beru Ginting.
All the patient had the family's direct relations and lived in the close house.
According to the Head of public relations of RS Adam the Owner, the Ginting rays, all the patient had the same sign that is hot high, the cough and was gotten the liquid to his lungs.
Responded to this case, the Section Head North Sumatran Livestock Breeding, Abdul the Siregar Uterus stated, his side will take the action of taking the form of the extermination of the poultry animal that was around casualties's residence in the Karo Regency.
This was done for anticipated spread him this deadly illness to the other citizen.
In the meantime, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said, he did not suspect the case of bird flu of happening in Karokaro, North Sumatra.
Menkes suspected the spreading of the bird flu virus of beginning with fertiliser.
(/AMR)

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Some people are more susceptible to bird flu than others, suggesting human genetics may play a role in the viral infection that's killed more than 100 people in the past three years, virologist Robert Webster said.

``There are a few humans that are extraordinarily sensitive,'' said Webster, 74, the Rosemary Thomas professor at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. ``This seems to be in families on the maternal side,'' he said in an interview in Singapore last week.

Scientists are trying to increase their understanding of the disease in humans and of the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has the potential to evolve into a pandemic form that may kill millions of people.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 115 of 207 people known to have been infected since late 2003, the World Health Organization said on May 8. Some of the human cases involved multiple family members.

The human genome contains an estimated 30,000 genes. One hundred or more genes may be involved in the human response to influenza infection, Webster said.

``Which one matters for H5N1 more than another?'' Webster said. ``We don't know enough about cell biology, let alone enough about virology to put these two together.''

The number of humans infected by H5N1 has increased this year after 34 countries across three continents reported initial outbreaks in birds since February. In Asia, almost 200 million domestic fowl have died or been culled to contain the spread of H5N1, costing countries more than $10 billion, the World Bank said in January.

Family Members

This year, 39 fatalities have been reported, almost as many as the 41 deaths recorded in the whole of 2005. Cases in which multiple family members were infected occurred across Asia and Eastern Europe, including in Azerbaijan, Vietnam and Indonesia.

``The question of genetic susceptibility to H5N1 has certainly been raised in the past,'' said Maria Cheng, a WHO spokeswoman in Geneva. ``It may have some credence, given the millions of people that have likely been exposed to sick birds and the relatively small number of confirmed cases.''

Current data provides too little information to draw any firm conclusions, Cheng said.

``Hopefully, as we get more information once more sophisticated clinical networks are set up in countries with human bird flu cases, we will have information that helps us distinguish between exposure issues and host susceptibility factors,'' she said. ``Until then, this remains only a theory.''

More Lethal

Variants of the H5N1 virus have become progressively more lethal over the past eight years in experimentally infected chickens and mice, the WHO said in February.

The virus is also becoming more capable of causing disease in mammals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said in March.

``These are all worrying things,'' said Webster, who has been studying influenza for more than 40 years. ``This highly pathogenic virus has been around for 10 years now and it keeps magnifying. Some of my colleagues are saying if it was going to go human-to-human, it would have happened now. You don't know.''

To contact the reporter on this story:

Jason Gale in Singapore at  j.gale@bloomberg.net