Probable Person-to-Person Transmission of Avian Influenza A (H5N1)

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 352; no. 4; pp. 333 - 340
• Main Authors: Ungchusak, Kumnuan, Auewarakul, Prasert, Dowell, Scott F, Kitphati, Rungrueng, Auwanit, Wattana, Puthavathana, Pilaipan, Uiprasertkul, Mongkol, Boonnak, Kobporn, Pittayawonganon, Chakrarat, Cox, Nancy J, Zaki, Sherif R, Thawatsupha, Pranee, Chittaganpitch, Malinee, Khontong, Rotjana, Simmerman, James M, Chunsutthiwat, Supamit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 27.01.2005
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Avian influenza virus; Biological and medical sciences; Birds; Child; Disease transmission; Fatal Outcome; Female; General aspects; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; Infectious diseases; Influenza; Influenza A virus - genetics; Influenza A virus - isolation & purification; Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype; Influenza in Birds - transmission; Influenza, Human - transmission; Influenza, Human - virology; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Medical sciences; Pandemics; Phylogeny; Poultry; Radiography; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the respiratory system and ent viral diseases; Zoonoses - transmission; Thailand; Infection; Medicine; Avian influenza; Influenza A; Viral disease; Transmission
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa044021

This investigation was conducted in Thailand after a young girl and her mother died from acute viral pneumonia and an aunt with whom the girl had lived also had severe viral pneumonia. Samples from the mother and aunt were positive for avian influenza (H5N1) infection. In this cluster of avian influenza infection, two of the patients had had no exposure to ill birds, suggesting that person-to-person transmission occurred. During the first months of 2004, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza caused by influenza A (H5N1) virus were recognized in eight Asian countries. 1 , 2 The poultry outbreaks receded and then reappeared in July in five countries, with human cases recognized in Vietnam and Thailand. 3 As of November 11, 2004, there had been 44 documented human infections and 32 deaths (mortality, 73 percent), sparking fears that this lethal pathogen might cause a pandemic. Since the first avian influenza outbreak, in 1997, 4 there has been concern that the influenza A (H5N1) virus might either mutate and adapt to allow efficient transmission . . .