Oh Great…

All seven people infected with bird flu in a cluster of Indonesian cases can be linked to other patients, according to disease trackers investigating possible human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus.

A team of international experts has been unable to find animals that might have infected the people, the World Health Organization said in a statement today. In one case, a 10-year- old boy who caught the virus from his aunt may have passed it to his father, the first time officials have seen evidence of a three-person chain of infection, an agency spokeswoman said. Six of the seven people have died.
bloomberg

Were we taking bird flu seriously this would be the moment to shut down all inbound travel from Indonesia until we can set up quarantine facilities through which people from that huge nation would have to pass before coming into Canada.

However, the good news - in so far as the death of a ten year old can ever have any good news - is that this is a mutation which we have been worried about. Now the race is on to make a vaccine which will actually stop the flu in humans. The only trouble being that it will take four month to a year and this may not be the only human transmitable mutation.

Which is why it would be wise to shut the borders now.

As if.

Written by jay on May 24th, 2006 with 3 comments.
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