Bird flu clusters befuddle scientists

The cluster began with one extended family living side-by-side in three homes and so far has killed seven of the eight members who came down with the virus.

In fact, it is the largest cluster ever of H5N1 bird flu virus cases. It is so large and so virulent that health officials have been extremely worried.

Clusters are looked on with far more suspicion than isolated infections because they raise the possibility the virus might have mutated to transmit efficiently among humans, sparking a pandemic and killing millions of people.

Yet, after two weeks of extensive field work and laboratory testing, the WHO has not been able to determine the source of the virus. Given the rural area where the cluster occurred, where farming and livestock are the main source of food, it’s easy to see how difficult it would be to isolate the virus.

When this reporter visited the village on Tuesday, it was impossible to count the number of chicken roaming free or the number of pigs walking and defecating where children played. Many large animals were tethered near entrance ways to home. Put simply, disease could lurk anywhere.

Dr. Steven Bjorge, the WHO team leader who has been working in the village of Kubu Sembelang, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that it would be impossible to check all the animals in that village.

Bjorge added, "If there was a sick chicken, these villagers would cook and eat it. We may never know the source."

When local villagers were asked about the presumption that they would eat sick chickens, they confirmed that they probably would.

Also, despite published reports that large teams of field epidemiologists have hunkered down in the villages for the past two week, people in the village say the investigators have only been there a half a dozen times for one or two hours. A WHO official confirmed that, saying the people are suspicious and hostile.

"We very much believe we have this outbreak contained. And we are virtually certain that although this appears to be the much talked about human to human transmission, it is not a mutation of H5N1," said Bjorge.

The people, in Kubu Sembilang, told this reporter they had never heard of avian flu. And even after the death of their seven neighbors, most villagers still believed that "evil spirits" killed the victims.

Source: MSNBC.com from NBC: Bird flu clusters befuddle scientists

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