Maria Cheng
Maria Cheng
behaving concern
When this outbreak (in Turkey) was first reported, there was a lot of concern it was behaving differently.
including people similar somewhat symptoms three
There have been three deaths, with symptoms somewhat similar to H5N1 infection. Other people are still in hospital, including one who is very sick.
infected mammals means
We know that mammals can be infected by H5N1, but we don't know what this means for humans.
extensive good information moment
At the moment we don't have very good information about how extensive these outbreaks are.
keen obviously samples sent
We are obviously keen to have the samples sent abroad.
birds concern contact humans infected mean obviously seen virus worldwide
We've never seen so many outbreaks of the same virus in so many different regions. Our concern obviously is that humans could potentially come into contact with birds infected with H5N1, which would mean populations worldwide are potentially at risk.
cats exposed fall means people role virus
But we don't know what this means for humans. We don't know if they would play a role in transmitting the disease. We don't know how much virus the cats would excrete, how much people would need to be exposed to before they would fall ill.
across difficult larger matter opportunity rapidly short spread start stop surprised window within worldwide
But this is a very short window of opportunity here. Because influenza spreads so rapidly we wouldn't be surprised to see this spread worldwide within a matter of weeks.Ê.Ê.Ê. Once we start to see this in a larger area, across borders, then it will be very difficult to stop it.
changed gone largely moment reason situation team virus whether
But at the moment we don't know enough about the situation to tell whether or not the virus has changed in some way. And that's largely the reason the team has gone in.
clinical course died illness laboratory probable prove similar symptoms test
She had similar symptoms and the clinical course of her illness was the same. So it would be very probable that she died of H5N1, but right now we don't have the laboratory test to prove that.
given since talking
Since we've been talking about this containment strategy, we've given the very big qualifier that we think it may fail.
bare breathing clearly eyes images mouth nose people possibly protected quite seen
We've seen images where quite clearly they are not protected properly. We see people with bare hands, their eyes, their nose and their mouth uncovered, where they are possibly breathing in virus,
changing health indication people virus workers
I think really, (illness in) people like health-care workers and first responders would be our first indication that something is changing in the virus to make it more transmissible.
beijing cases exposure history human identified informed office province seems somebody
Our office in Beijing was informed of this today. It is in a province that hasn't identified human cases before but it is somebody who seems to have a history of exposure to poultry.