Reply #13: Indonesia bird flu probe is 'disturbing:' doctor

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Indonesia bird flu probe is 'disturbing:' doctor
Updated Wed. May. 24 2006 8:37 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff



A Canadian infectious disease expert says the UN health agency investigation into whether the H5N1 strain of bird flu was spread among family members in Indonesia is cause for concern.


Dr. Donald Low (file)

Six of the seven people in an extended family in northern Sumatra who caught the disease have died, the most recent on Monday. An eighth person who died was buried before tests could be conducted, but she is considered to be among those infected with the strain.

"We don't have the answers to why there is such widespread disease in this one family," Dr. Donald Low, who runs Ontario's Public Health Laboratory said, appearing on CTV Newsnet.

"It just didn't come from one source, this is clearly transmission from person-to-person," he said.

While there's yet no evidence the avian flu virus has mutated into a more contagious form, it is disconcerting that the World Health Organization has found no animal source for the infection, Low said.


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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060523/flu_indonesia_tests_060524/20060524?hub=CTVNewsAt11