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Human Bird Flu Deaths Pass 100 with Azerbaijan Fatalities

Egypt reports first human disease; animal disease threatens biodiversity

Five human bird flu deaths in Azerbaijan have been confirmed by international laboratories, pushing the total deaths confirmed by the World Health Organization to 103.

The World Health Organization (WHO) attributed the deaths of five young people between the ages of 10 and 21 to the H5N1 avian influenza strain that has caused the deaths or destruction of about 200 million birds since late 2003.

Human disease continues to appear in new places - Egypt being the most recently identified nation. The U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo, Egypt, conducted the testing to confirm the presence of H5N1 in samples taken from a 30-year-old woman who died March 16, according to WHO. International confirmation of the results is under way. If the initial findings are confirmed, Egypt would be the ninth nation to spot the disease in humans.

Egypt reported its first disease in flocks in early March, and now the virus is found in 18 of the country's 26 governorates. The appearance of the disease in humans now comes as no surprise because as the virus is spread more widely among domestic birds, it becomes more likely that humans will be exposed to this highly pathogenic form of avian influenza.

In the cases in both Azerbaijan and Egypt, health authorities report that most of the people who fell ill had been in close contact with domestic birds, but the precise route of exposure is still under investigation. So far, the vast majority of human cases have been traced to close contact with ailing birds.

POTENTIAL REMAINS FOR HUMAN PANDEMIC

As the disease has spread to more than 40 countries over the last two years, international health officials increasingly have become concerned about the potential of the H5N1 virus to spark a human influenza pandemic. The virus does not pass easily from human to human in its current form, but if it mutates to develop that capability, tens of millions of people could be infected, with sweeping social and economic consequences.

A new threat posed by the virus was suggested March 22 at a meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) being held in Curitiba, Brazil. The virus may be a greater threat to a wider range of species than previously supposed, and if disease were to become widespread among those creatures, broad environmental ripple effects could result.

The deaths of cats in Germany and tigers in Thailand have confirmed that predatory mammals can become infected and ill by feeding on birds carrying the virus.

The CDB warns that epidemic disease among these animals could lead to a die-off of predators that then would lead to a population explosion of vermin, like rats and mice.

"We are learning many hard lessons from the threatened pandemic," said CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf. He called for increased surveillance to spot transmission of disease among animal and human populations.

The United States is a partner in a broad international coalition working to coordinate efforts and mobilize resources in the global effort to prevent pandemic influenza. The United States also has earmarked more than $330 million to help lesser-developed nations improve their disease surveillance and monitoring capabilities. (See related article.)

Source: U.S. Department of State

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