Does avian flu pass from person to person?
Indications, studies and symptoms all suggest it can, but so far, the virus does not seem to have mutated into a form where it could spread a pandemic. For example: A girl who was affected by avian bird flu is believed to have passed the disease on to her mother who also died. On the other hand, the girl’s aunt also picked up the infection but managed to survive. After studying these cases, UK Virology expert Professor John Oxford said these cases were indicative of the fact that the basic virus was capable of passing between humans and would most likely be seen again in similar small and closed clusters. Again, the above case is not the only incident when it is believed the avian bird flu passed between humans. In 2004, two sisters died in Vietnam after possibly contracting bird flu from their brother who had died from an unidentified respiratory illness. In Hong Kong too in 1997, a doctor possibly contracted the disease from a patient.
