[Avian influenza A (H5N1) infectious in both birds and humans in South-Eastern Asian countries]

Avian influenza affects most types of birds and occurs in epidemics on poultry farms. The fatal disease is named "highly pathogenic avian influenza" and is caused by influenza A virus subtypes H5 and H7. The natural reservoir is the migratory waterfowl that occasionally infects domestic poultry. In 1997 in Hong Kong, 18 persons were infected and 6 of them died. At the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, avian influenza H5N1 infected numerous farms in several South-Eastern Asian countries. The virus was transmitted to humans in close contact with infected birds. A total of 34 persons were infected and 23 of them died. There is currently a considerable concern about the H5N1 avian influenza that has infected humans: the high virulence, evolution rate, the possibility of recombination with other influenza viruses, how H5N1 variants that infect humans or different approaches to the development of influenza vaccines.