The avian (bird) flu in Indonesia: potential for human to human transmission

Recent stories in the news have revealed the deaths of six relatives in Indonesia.  Initial reports (especially those intent on creating panic) have insisted that the people who died had no contact with an infectious agent other than through each other.  This is not a known fact, although, if the infection occurred in a method other than human-human, the source of the H5N1 virus (this particular strain) has not been found.

According to Forbes, "...so far, WHO officials say there is no evidence at this point that the virus had mutated."  This is, however, one of the first times when the source of infection has been unidentifiable.  However, given the fact that the H5N1 virus is essentially endemic in Indonesia right now, I don't think that there is a reason to panic... yet.  The same Forbes article notes:  "'There's no evidence that the current spread among this family cluster in Indonesia represents a major mutation to the H5N1 virus,' said Dr. Marc Siegel, author of Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic and clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine in New York City. 'I prefer the CSI approach, to rampant speculation.'"

Even if this particular strain of the disease is capable of passing between humans, scientists quoted in Forbes note that it is unlikely that passing contact, such as sneezing, is capable of transmitting the disease.  This would put caring family members and health workers at increased risk in the event of a human-human H5N1 pandemic.  As I have noted in the multitude of posts that I have written about the bird flu: do not panic, and don't do anything extreme, but please continue to monitor the news and remain informed.