Pandemic risks from bird flu

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7434.238

BMJ 2004;328:238-239 (31 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7434.238

Editorial

Pandemic risks from bird flu

The risk to humans is small, but we need to be better prepared

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

An outbreak of avian influenza is ravaging the poultry industryin South East Asia. This carries a devastating economic tollfor the communities affected, but what of the associated riskto human health? At least seven people in Vietnam have beeninfected by the strain of H5N1 subtype influenza found in poultry.Of these six are dead. In Thailand three boys contracted thevirus; two are dead. These numbers are small, and investigationsand case studies so far suggest that the virus does not transmitfrom human to human but is acquired directly from close contactwith infected chickens. How likely is it that these events signifythe emergence of a new human pandemic, and what measures dowe have to deal with the global threat?

Although we think of influenza as a human disease, the naturalreservoir for influenza A viruses is aquatic birds and wildfowl.Many different strains . . . [Full text of this article]

Wendy S Barclay, lecturer

School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AJ (w.s.barclay@reading.ac.uk)

Maria Zambon, deputy director

Enteric, Respiratory and Neurological Virus Laboratory, Health Protection Agency, London NW9 5HT (mzambon@phls.org.uk)