VIETNAM: Two Vietnamese sisters have died from bird flu, possibly after contracting the virus from their brother in the epidemic's first recorded human-to-human transmissions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.
The deaths brought to 10 the number of people known to have died after the virus, which has decimated poultry flocks across Asia, made the leap to humans.
Scientists believed that the disease could only be contracted through exposure to infected birds or droppings, and not from person to person.
The WHO said it could not be sure how the Vietnamese sisters contracted the disease because their brother had died earlier of respiratory ailments before any tests could be conducted on him.
However it said it "considers that limited human-to-human transmission, from the brother to the sisters, is one possible explanation". With the disease taking a foothold in 10 Asian countries, China's state television yesterday reported five more areas with suspected cases of bird flu.
The Vietnamese sisters, aged 23 and 30, died on January 23th, the WHO said. Hanoi's National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology said last week it was certain bird flu was the cause of death.
The WHO said an investigation into the family's illness failed to uncover any contact with sick poultry or "an environmental source".
"At the same time, such exposures cannot be discounted either," it said.
Six other people have died from bird flu in Vietnam. The disease has killed two boys in Thailand, and two other Vietnamese have been confirmed as having the virus but have either recovered or are still in hospital.