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WHO: Ducks May Infect Humans With Bird Flu

Posted on: Friday, 29 October 2004, 12:00 CDT

GENEVA - Domestic ducks may be infecting humans with bird flu, even though they show no external signs of having the disease, the U.N. health agency warned Friday.

Bird flu has been reported in ducks that exhibit no clinical signs of the disease, said Dr. Klaus Stohr, the World Health Organization's influenza chief. "They could be an undetectable carrier," he told reporters.

"In the last few months there is an increase in the number of human cases which cannot necessarily be linked to poultry exposure," Stohr explained. "We don't know the infectious dose for humans, but assuming that poultry can infect humans, we must consider that apparently healthy ducks can also infect humans."

There is a high risk of transmission to humans because many villagers in affected areas in southeast Asia have ducks inside their houses, Stohr said.

"What is urgently needed now is that governments invest in research to discover just how widespread H5N1 (bird flu) is in domestic ducks," he said, adding that "there has been no case yet in humans that can be directly traced back to ducks."

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu appeared throughout Asia early this year, ravaging poultry farms and sparking a region-wide health scare. Authorities in Asia culled tens of millions of birds in an attempt to thwart the spread of the disease, but it resurfaced in July.

The latest fatality earlier this week brought to 12 the number of human deaths from avian influenza in Thailand this year. Eight of the dead were children. Another 20 people have died from the disease in Vietnam.

"We have an increase in the number of cases during the summer season, let us only speculate what may happen when the temperature drops and the virus stays for longer," Stohr warned. "We're all realizing now that reaching freedom from the disease is more complicated than people had thought."

Thailand recently announced its first probable case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu. Infections could increase rapidly if the virus links up with human influenza, Stohr said.

Bird flu does not transmit easily from human to human, he explained, while human influenza is highly infectious.

"If these two viruses come together they would join forces," he said. "If I had a double infection ... then I could spread this disease easily to all of you."

Stohr also noted that the lack of a vaccine for bird flu is the main reason people are concerned about the disease.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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