TEMPO.CO, Beijing - Researchers have reported the first case of human-to-human transmission of the new strain of bird flu (H7N9) that has emerged in China. Although this new development is of concern and should be closely watched, experts stressed that it does not mean the virus has the ability to spread easily between humans.
"People should not panic," said epidemiologist Chang-jun Bao of Jiangsu province's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reported Channel News Asia.
The British Medical Journal said a 32-year-old woman was infected after caring for her 60-year-old father in the hospital. Unlike her father who went to a poultry market before he fell ill, the woman had no direct contact with poultry yet still became infected with the virus six days after her last contact with him. Both died in intensive care of multiple organ failure.
Genetic tests of virus samples from the two patients also revealed they were "almost identical".
Up until this case, there has been no reported proof that humans could contract the H7N9 without any direct contact with poultry. Most of the previous victims visited poultry markets or had direct contact with poultry one or two weeks before falling ill.
Official figures released last month showed the H7N9 virus had made 132 people ill in mainland China since the first human cases were reported in March, of which 43 died. One case was also recorded in Taiwan.
BBC | CHANNEL NEWS ASIA | NATALIA SANTI
