Dutch Vet's Death Linked to Bird Flu Virus
Eric Onstad
Apr. 19, 2003 22:07 EDT
AMSTERDAM - A Dutch veterinarian has died of pneumonia after catching the poultry disease bird flu, officials said on Saturday, raising fears that a mutated version of the virus could cause a SARS-type epidemic in people.
The 57-year-old man died on Thursday in the southern city of Den Bosch, the Health Ministry said. He fell ill two days after working on a farm infected with bird flu, or avian virus.
``Because the bird flu virus was detected in the lungs and there is no other possible clinical explanation, there are strong indications that the man died as a result of the bird flu virus,'' the Health Ministry said in a statement.
The World Health Organization has warned that the disease could turn into a human epidemic, just as some scientists believe a bird virus could have helped cause the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) sweeping the globe.
But a WHO spokesman played down the fear on Saturday, saying the disease did not appear to spread easily from human to human.
The Dutch have been grappling for a month to contain the bird flu outbreak that has spilled into Belgium and is nearing Germany, amid concerns that bird and human flu could mix in pigs and produce a mutation that humans have no resistance against.
Belgian authorities said on Saturday they had spotted a second possible outbreak of the disease in poultry.
Scientists stressed that preventative measures were in place, including guidelines for at-risk workers to take medication against bird flu and human flu. The veterinarian who died had not taken the anti-viral medication.
Transport restrictions have been introduced for pigs after several animals were found to have antibodies to bird flu, and millions of birds have been slaughtered.
Scientists at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam identified the virus in the veterinarian's lungs as part of the same H7 family as the bird flu virus, Dr Albert Osterhaus, who heads the virology department, told Reuters.
DOOM SCENARIO
Staff were now working on further ``sequencing'' to see whether any mutations had occurred, Osterhaus said.
``The doom scenario would be if animals or humans became infected with human and animal viruses and there was an exchange of genetic material,'' he said.
``The result would be a (new) virus against which there would be no immunity in the population.''
The chances of this happening were small, however, and measures already in place should prevent it happening, he added.
A few farm workers have already been infected with bird flu, but most only suffered minor eye infections and all recovered.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said there were no signs that the dead man had infected anyone else.
Asked if this could be the start of a European version of SARS, he replied: ``No, we do not think that.''
SARS, which has killed 172 people and infected nearly 3,500 around the world, stems from the corona virus, a completely different family, one of which also causes the common cold.
``The only similarity is that it is a virus that spills over from an animal reservoir...but what allowed that virus to cross the species barrier we have no idea,'' said Osterhaus, whose team was among global researchers who pinpointed the SARS virus.
Some people say SARS might have been the result of human and avian viruses mixing in Guangdong, China, where people live close to animals, but Osterhaus said this was just speculation.
Pandemics of new influenza strains in 1956-1957 and 1967-1968 killed a combined 4.5 million people.
``Up to now avian flu has never acquired the ability to transmit from one person to another -- if it does it could cause a large number of infections,'' World Health Organization spokesman Iain Simpson told Reuters earlier this week.
``There have been a number of influenza pandemics over the centuries and the last one was in the late 1960's so there is a view that we're overdue another one, although that doesn't mean it's going to happen any time soon.''
Second Case of Bird Flu Suspected in Belgium
Apr. 19, 2003 13:24 EDT
BRUSSELS - A second outbreak of the highly contagious poultry disease bird flu may have hit Belgium, a ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
The disease has spilled over into Belgium from the Netherlands, which has slaughtered some 11 million birds since the end of end of February in an effort to control it.
The World Health Organisation has warned that the illness could turn into a human epidemic, just as an animal disease is believed to be the possible origin of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) sweeping the globe.
Belgian authorities will only be able to confirm the new outbreak in a couple of days, once all relevant tests have been carried out, the official told Reuters.
``For the moment there is a suspicion, not a confirmation,'' said a spokesman for the Ministry of Consumer Interests, Health and Environment, adding that Belgium was ready to take extra safety measures should the need arise.
Belgian authorities said on Wednesday they had discovered a first case of bird flu on a farm in Meeuwen-Gruitrode, in the eastern region of Limburg.
The spokesman said the second suspected outbreak was in an area near the first affected farm, and had already been sealed off. He did not indicate the exact location.
Dutch officials said a Dutch veterinarian died of pneumonia this week after catching bird flu, raising fears that a mutated version of the virus could affect human beings.
Belgium has banned exports of live chickens and eggs and stopped transport of all poultry and poultry products within the country. Belgian authorities have also decided to slaughter around 250,000 chickens within a three-kilometer radius of the first outbreak to stop the spread.
The European Commission has enforced the ban at European Union level until April 25.
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