Alert over fears ‘bird flu’ may spread
Doctors have confirmed that a man who died from a virus in Hong Kong a week ago had been suffering from what is commonly known as “bird flu.”
Earlier this month, the man’s nine-year-old boy was admitted to hospital suffering from flu and is now in a stable condition. It was confirmed he had the new influenza AH5NI virus, as had his father.
One of the man’s two young daughters died last month and was buried before tests could be carried out to establish if she had the flu, thought to have originated from ducks or chickens.
The man’s wife, who was also ill, has since recovered, and tests to establish whether she had the virus have not yet concluded.
The Department of Health has circulated information about the Hong Kong outbreak to all health boards and is in close contact with the World Health Organisation.
A plan to deal with a global flu epidemic that includes prevention strategies, surveillance and early warning systems was developed last May by a ministerial-appointed committee chaired by the head of the National Virus Reference Laboratory.
A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was possible the family in Hong Kong contracted the virus from the same source.
The WHO is collaborating closely with health authorities in Beijing and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China where the virus was first seen in humans in 1997. At the time the virus infected 18 people and caused six deaths.
All chickens thought to be the source of the outbreak were slaughtered in the region and, up to now, no further cases of bird flu were reported in humans.
The Irish College of General Practitioners’ influenza expert, Dr Dermot Nolan, said it was unlikely the virus, similar to the one responsible for the 1997 outbreak, was able to transmit from human to human.
Dr Nolan is one of a number of doctors who monitor flu activity in about 35 practices around Ireland together with the National Disease Surveillance Centre (NDSC).
“Outbreaks of the more serious Type A influenza are viruses that have been circulating for a number of years and for which the vaccine offers protection,” he pointed out. “We haven’t seen any mutant strains here yet.”
