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H5N1 Bird Flu Mutates in Indonesia, but Doesn't Evolve

By Paul Kerstein

June 23, 2006 — CSO — The H5N1 bird flu virus mutated somewhat among Indonesians in the largest known human cluster, but did not evolve into a more communicable form, the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters on Friday.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. agency, Maria Cheng, said the result came from its investigation into a cluster of cases in northern Sumatra, where the virus killed seven members of a single family in May.

"There was a mutation found," she told Reuters in Geneva, in response to a query. "But it did not mutate into a form that is more transmissible because it didn’t seem to go beyond the cluster."

Malik Peiris, a leading H5N1 expert from Hong Kong, told reporters on the sidelines of a bird flu experts’ meeting in Jakarta that it was common for the influenza virus to mutate.

"Influenza viruses always mutate. That’s of course the reason why people are concerned that as we go on longer and longer, the virus may change to become more transmissible. But that does not happen so far."

Indonesian and WHO officials closely monitored more than 50 contacts of the victims in the northern Sumatra case, keeping them in voluntary home quarantine following the outbreak, but none developed symptoms, according to the Geneva-based agency.

Indonesia has seen a steady rise in bird flu human infection and deaths. The virus has infected 51 Indonesians and killed 39 of them and is endemic in poultry in nearly all the country’s 33 provinces.

Compiled by Paul Kerstein

For more information on bird flu, read WHO Outlines Plan to Contain Bird Flu and Planning for Pandemic.

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