Human Infection with Avian Influenza Virus, Pakistan, 2007 | CDC EID

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Volume 17, Number 6–June 2011
Dispatch
Human Infection with Avian Influenza Virus, Pakistan, 2007
Mukhtiar Zaman, Saadia Ashraf, Nancy A. Dreyer, and Stephen Toovey
Author affiliations: Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan (M. Zaman, S. Ashraf); Outcome Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (N.A. Dreyer); and University College and Royal Free Medical School, London, UK (S. Toovey)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
Human infection with avian influenza (H5N1) virus raises concern for the possibility of a pandemic. We report 20 cases, which ranged from asymptomatic to fatal, in Pakistan in 2007. These cases indicate human-to-human-to-human transmission of this virus, and the number of cases may be higher than realized.

Evidence of human-to-human transmission of influenza A (H5N1) virus raises concern over a possible pandemic (1). Previous epidemiologic investigation of the outbreak of influenza (H5N1) among persons in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan (Figure 1) in 2007 found 5 cases—3 confirmed, 1 asymptomatic, and 1 probable—as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2). We report a larger set of 20 cases during this outbreak in Pakistan, supporting human-to-human-to-human transmission.

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Human Infection with Avian Influenza Virus, Pakistan, 2007 | CDC EID



Suggested Citation for this Article
Zaman M, Ashraf S, Dreyer NA, Toovey S. Human infection with avian influenza virus, Pakistan, 2007. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Jun [date cited].
http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/6/1056.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1706.091652


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Stephen Toovey, Burggartenstrasse 32, 4103 Bottmingen, Switzerland; email: malaria@sunrise.ch