H6N1 bird flu strain infects human for first time

Taiwanese experts identified the virus as the H6N1 bird flu that is widely circulating in chickens on the island. Photo: Reuters


36 MIN AGO

TAIPEI — A strain of bird flu that scientists thought could not infect people has shown up in a Taiwanese woman, a nasty surprise that shows scientists must do more to spot worrisome flu strains before they ignite a global outbreak, said doctors.

The woman, 20, was hospitalised in May with a lung infection. After being treated with Tamiflu and antibiotics, she was released. One of her throat swabs was sent to the Taiwan Centres for Disease Control.

Experts there identified it as the H6N1 bird flu, widely circulating in chickens on the island.

The patient, who was not identified, worked in a deli and had no known connection to live birds. Investigators noted several of her close family and friends also developed flu-like symptoms after spending time with her, though none tested positive for the virus.

The research was published online yesterday in the medical journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Since the H5N1 bird flu strain first broke out in southern China in 1996, public health officials have been nervously monitoring its progress.

Several other bird flu strains, including H7N9, which was first identified in China in April, have also caused concern, but none has, so far, mutated into a form able to spread easily among people.

Dr Marion Koopmans, a virologist at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, called for increased surveillance of animal flu viruses and more research into predicting which viruses might cause a global crisis.

On a more hopeful front, a company on Wednesday reported encouraging results from its first human tests of a possible vaccine against H7N9 that has infected at least 137 people and killed at least 45 early this year.

Scientists from Novavax said tests on 284 people suggest that after two shots of the vaccine, most made antibodies at a level that usually confers protection. AP

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