Again evidence of bird flu in Hong Kong

Hong Kong: Second evidence of bird flu within a week

12/23/2012

Hong Kong is considered the cradle of the infectious disease bird flu. From here, the pathogen spread for the first time eight years ago and left the world in fear of a deadly pandemic. Although the disease numbers remained well behind the fears, but the danger of the avian influenza virus is not banned today.

For the second time in just one week in Hong Kong, the bird flu virus was detected in a dead bird. This again increases the fear of skipping on humans. The main risk lies in the mutation of the H5N1 virus. With only a few adjustments, the bird flu virus could become a potentially deadly pathogen, which spreads as rapidly among mammals including humans as the pathogens of swine flu H1N1.

Risk of transmission to humans
The proof of the avian influenza virus in the carcass of a red-breasted magpie meets the experts with concern. Within just one week, the dangerous bird flu virus was detected in Hong Kong for the second time. Health officials said on Friday that 19,000 birds had been slaughtered on Wednesday, after the virus had been detected in a chicken stock. For three weeks, the import and sale of live poultry in Hong Kong is now prohibited. Since poultry and humans partly live together in confined spaces in the metropolis, the danger of a transmission of the avian influenza virus to humans is particularly great here. However, the bird flu pathogens in their previous form are only partially contagious for humans. Thus, since the discovery of the virus in 2003 died worldwide only 331 people, making the H5N1 virus is much more harmless than ordinary flu viruses.

Special danger due to mutation of bird flu pathogens
The biggest risk, however, is a mutation of the pathogen. If the avian influenza virus were as transmissible as other influenza viruses, a pandemic with hundreds of thousands of deaths could quickly develop. To counter this risk, more than 400 million chickens and other poultry have been culled since the first outbreak of avian influenza in 2003. Even so, the H5N1 viruses appear to be much more common than hoped, as the two records in Hong Kong confirm in just one week. (Fp)

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Picture: BgKan