A few days following the death of an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia following contamination with H5N1 avian flu, her father also tested positive. The question of the origin of its contamination is at the heart of the questions: is it an exceptional human-to-human transmission?
Is human-to-human contamination with avian influenza possible? A few days following the death of his 11-year-old daughter from the H5N1 virus, a Cambodian man also tested positive for the disease but did not present any symptoms. symptomsindicates the ministry from the country.
Transmission interhumaine ?
The father’s source of infection is at the heart of the questions. And for good reason, if it is of avian origin, it is only a transmission, more usual, of the disease between species. This is especially the case around dwellings located proximity to epidemic foci in poultry. Here, the family home is near a lake in which several dead birds lie.
On the other hand, if it is the 11-year-old girl, who tested positive for avian flu and died in hospital on Wednesday February 22, who infected her father, the question of the human-to-human transmission returns to the table, with its share of concerns. And for good reason, if avian flu can be caught via other animals, the virus is not currently known to be able to be transmitted between humans, except in very exceptional cases, indicates the Pasteur Institute.
If such transmission was the source of the father’s infection, it would mean that the contamination between humans and possible. For the time being, this prospect, which is only envisaged in the event of mutation you virus, fear for doctors. This is why it is important to fight once morest the epidemic, even if it does not concern our species.
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No symptoms
If the girl’s father has tested positive for avian flu H5N1, He currently has no symptoms. The death of the 11-year-old girl was the first in 9 years in the country. She had suffered from violent symptoms, between high fevers and severe cough. His 49-year-old father is being closely watched by doctors to monitor the progress of his infection.
In addition, the health authorities will carry out tests to identify “the sources of the infection”. In the country, 58 cases of bird flu have been identified over the past twenty years, 38 of them have proven to be fatal. This tragic case pushes the WHO to study the question and warn regarding the massive spread of the virus among birds. On the other side of Eurasia, France, Germany and even Great Britain are facing the worst avian flu epizootic ever observed.
