Bird Flu Center

A study relying on mathematical analysis has been brought forward to confirm that several cases of avian influenza on humans, detected in 2006 in Indonesia, were due to the disease spreading from person to person. A team of US researchers have developed a tool by which to quickly run tests on contagious disease cases of outbreak, so as to assess the risk of a world epidemic occurring.

Health officials around the world estimate that a world epidemic of influenza is to be expected in the future and the H5N1 bird flu virus is seen as one of the biggest dangers. Most cases of human infections so far have been attributed to direct contact with birds. However, a few cases have arisen suspicion that the virus might have been passed on from human to human.

The scientists analyzed to clusters. One of them was the case of eight family members dying in Sumatra last year, while the other consisted of eight people being infected in Turkey, out of which four have died. The researchers say there is enough statistical evidence to confirm human to human transmission of the bird flu virus in the case of the Sumatra cluster.