Keep an Eye on This Bug

It is a scenario that keeps virologists up at night: the image of “a small and deadly thing that is poking and prodding for a weak spot in whatever is protecting its intended victims.”

Scientists are closely monitoring an outbreak in Asia in the event one of these small and deadly things -- a new flu virus -- is rearing its head. They're determined to avoid a repeat of the deadly epidemic associated with the SARS outbreak last year.

Here’s what they know for sure: During the past month, a strain of bird flu that has killed thousands of chickens in four Asians countries has overpowered the species barrier and crossed over into humans, claiming a handful of victims, mostly children under age 12.

This time, though, experts think they’ve nipped this potential epidemic it in the bud – or bug, as it were. Chickens presumed to be carrying the virus have been killed, and researchers are closely scrutinizing how human infection occurs through contact with the birds.

The good news is that the virus is caused exclusively by human contact with chickens and is not spread person by person. In Thailand, where the most recent outbreaks have occurred, health officials say that two boys, ages 6 and 7, contracted the disease after playing with infected chickens.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at January 25, 2004 01:18 PM