BREAKING: 25% OF ALL HUMAN BIRD FLU NOT FROM DIRECT BIRD CONTACT

REUTERS:

The H5N1 bird flu virus may sometimes stick to surfaces or get kicked up in fertilizer dust to infect people, according to a World Health Organization report published on Wednesday.

The WHO team reviewed all known human cases of avian influenza, which has infected 350 people in 14 countries and killed 217 of them since 2003, and found that 25 per cent of cases have no explanation.

... And very rarely one person can infect another -- always close relatives via intimate physical contact.

"In one quarter or more of patients with influenza A (H5N1) virus infection, the source of exposure is unclear, and environment-to-human transmission remains possible," the researchers, led by WHO's Dr Frederick Hayden, wrote. "For some patients, the only identified risk factor was visiting a live-poultry market."

... It could be that small particles of virus-contaminated fluid stuck to surfaces, they said.

Or perhaps fertilizer made from infected bird feces somehow carried the virus into people's noses or mouths.

"It is unknown whether influenza A (H5N1) virus infection can begin in the human gastrointestinal tract," they wrote.

"In several patients, diarrheal disease preceded respiratory symptoms, and virus has been detected in feces."

Government and health officials have stressed that well-cooked chicken cannot infect people.

"Drinking potable water and eating properly cooked foods are not considered to be risk factors, but ingestion of virus-contaminated products or swimming or bathing in virus-contaminated water might pose a risk," the WHO team of bird flu experts noted.

Endemic in birds

H5N1 is considered entrenched in parts of Asia, including Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East.

It pops up frequently in Europe and has prompted the slaughter of hundreds of millions of chickens.

THIS GREATLY INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD OF AN H2H PANDEMIC EMERGING SINCE WILD BIRDS HAVE BIRD FLU, AND BECAUSE THEY MIGRATE AND THEREFORE DEFECATE ANYWHERE/EVERYHWERE.