Human to Human Transmission?

If you have birds or other livestock, now is the time to beef up your biosecurity. Do not let people or animals that have been off your property near them. That includes your own dogs and cats.

Viet Nam has reported the 7th human death from avian influenza in three weeks. The last case is believed to have been transmitted to the deceased by his brother.

The World Health Organisation has repeatedly warned that the virus, which
can pass from infected poultry to humans, could mutate into a highly
contagious human-to-human form that could trigger the next global human flu pandemic.

Reassortment

What the World Health Organisation (WHO) fears most is that the virus --
which has now killed 27 in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand -- could [undergo
reassortment] if it infected a person sick with ordinary flu, or got into
an animal such as a pig that was hosting a human influenza virus. If the
H5N1 were to [reassort genome sub-units] with a human influenza virus, it
could produce a strain capable of sweeping through a human population
without immunity, the WHO says. Millions could die worldwide.

But Hans Troedsson, Vietnam representative of the U.N. health agency, told
Reuters on Thursday that the virus has not mutated. He said doctors were
doing comprehensive investigations into the cases of the 2 brothers. He
said there would probably be isolated cases of human-to-human transmission, but
this did not necessarily spell disaster. If a cluster of infections
started to emerge, it might be regarded as evidence of human-to-human
transmission, he said.

Time to strenghten your immune system. Eat nutritious foods, drink lots of water get plenty of sleep and exercise.