United States: The announcement cannot rule out that bird flu may have transmitted from one person to another for the first time, though officials of the American health state that a man who stayed with a Missouri resident infected with H5N1 got ill at the same time as the patient.
The close contact “was also ill at the same time, was not tested, and has since recovered,” the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a weekly flu report released Friday.
However, CDC officials said in an interview with the New York Times on Friday night no epidemiological data have been found to support the transfer of H5N1 from one person to another, though more studies are necessary.
The same thing has been mentioned by HealthDay, the issue of close contact did show some gastrointestinal illness that can be indicative of an influenza infection as the CDC pointed out.
Neither the CDC, nor the Missouri health officials had mentioned that the close contact was ill before the release of the Friday’s report.
Nonetheless, in a Thursday briefing, CDC officials said that it was actually unknown how the first patient got infected with the virus, and that it seemed to be an isolated incident.
And on Thursday evening, Missouri health officials said that “all contacts are known and remained asymptomatic during the observation period,” the Times reported.
However, by Friday CDC officials admitted that the fact that the household contact has also become ill “should have been mentioned in the press briefing along with further details”, the New York times reported noting that there is low risk to the public.
However outside experts condemned this move on the basis that it was a mere omission.
‘It is never okay not to share that information,’ said Jennifer Nuzzo, who is the director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health in an interview to the Times on Friday.
Some of the other legal gurus complained about a general absence of information regarding the case.
Also, aside from getting more details on the case and it would be good to get more information on who was included in the case investigation and what the criteria were used, “Dr. Nahid Bhadelia who is the director of the Center on Emerging the infectious Disease at the Boston University tole the times.
And however, in the addition to the house contact and a health worker who cared for the hospitalized patient became ill but also tested negative for the flu and the CDC said on the Friday night and the times reported.
Antibodies are also testing could reveal any exposure to H5N1 and the Missouri’s officials said such tests were being considered.