单项选择题
| The deadly bird flu so far has claimed
a confirmed 18 lives in Vietnam and Thailand, though the suspected toll is
higher at 23. Millions of birds have been culled across Asia in an effort to
stop the spread of the disease. The U.N. health agency said that testing of
virus material from a 23-year-old Vietnamese woman who died of the HSN1 avian
flu virus showed no human transmission. The woman and her 30-year-old sister
were confirmed victims of bird flu. Their brother died of a flu-like illness but
because his body was cremated (焚化), there was no chance to test for the virus.
"WHO has today received the results from a study of virus isolated from a
23-year-old woman who is part of a family cluster in Vietnam under investigation
as the first possible instance of human-to-human transmission," the agency said
in a statement posted on its Web site. "Virus genetic material from this woman,
as for the other case in this cluster, is of avian origin and contains no human
influenza genes," it said. The WHO also said Chinese authorities had announced a suspected bird flu outbreak at a chicken farm in Tianjin, east of the Chinese capital Beijing. "Altogether, outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry are suspected or confirmed at 39 farms in 14 of China’s provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities," it said. No human cases have been reported in China yet. Experts say the bird flu virus must transform before it can be passed easily from person to person, although people can catch it from birds. Earlier this week, the WHO warned the bird flu outbreak in Asia could take two years to get under control. "We are probably looking at six months to two years before some of these outbreaks can be brought under total control in the poultry population, " said Mike Ryan, the WHO’s global response co-coordinator for avian flu, The Associated Press reported. Along with Thailand, Vietnam and China, bird flu outbreaks have been reported in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Pakistan. |