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Bird flu confirmed in two more people
9 April 2008
| Key facts |
- Bird flu is chiefly a disease of birds. It doesn't spread easily from birds to humans, but humans who are in very close contact with birds can sometimes get infected.
- There is no danger of becoming infected with bird flu by eating poultry or eggs, so long as they have been cooked properly.
- The prescription-only medicine oseltamivir (Tamiflu) works against the human form of flu. It won't prevent you from getting flu but it can reduce the amount of the virus in your body and may shorten the length of the illness. The World Health Organization recommends oseltamivir as the best treatment for people who have been exposed to H5N1.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that a further two people caught bird flu in Pakistan in November 2007 through contact with an infected poultry worker.
The first case in Pakistan of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza was confirmed in December 2007. The poultry worker who developed it recovered from the illness, but passed the virus to a 25-year-old male member of his family who died as a result.
But the WHO has recently confirmed that two more people were infected with the virus. One of them recovered fully - but the other person died. Both had had contact with the poultry worker and the person who originally died from avian flu. Neither had any known contact with flu-infected birds.
All those in close contact with the people who got avian flu were monitored by the WHO. No other members of the community in Pakistan developed any symptoms.
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