keep our family healthy

quoted: Bloomberg.com Canada

June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu was spread directly between members of an Indonesian family in the first laboratory-confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the lethal virus, a World Health Organization official said.

Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from a 10-year- old boy who died from the H5N1 avian influenza strain showed a minute change that was also found in a virus sample taken from his father, who later died from the virus, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva.

``We have seen a genetic change that confirms in a laboratory that the virus has moved from one human to another,'' Thompson said in an interview. The change in the virus ``doesn't seem to have any significance in terms of the pathology of the disease or how easily it's transmitted,'' he said.

Human-to-human transmission had previously been suspected as the cause of infection in seven members of the Indonesian family from the island of Sumatra. The cases attracted international attention because they represent the largest reported instance in which avian flu is likely to have spread among people. They also provide the first evidence of a three-person chain of infection.

At least 130 of the 228 people known to be infected with bird flu since 2003 have died, according to the WHO. World health officials are tracking the spread of the virus in the event it becomes more adept at infecting people.

Clusters

Clusters of human cases in which the virus was transmitted from person to person, including to health workers treating infected patients, may signal the emergence of a pandemic strain capable of killing millions of people.