New Flu Virus in Hong Kong

Things change rapidly in the world of infectious diseases. The bird flu story is no exception. I have made some corrections in this story (1/5/98).

When someone has the flu they usually feel awful, have a sore throat, muscle aches, muscle pains, cough and fever. Usually, people don't die from the flu unless the person has some respiratory disease or is elderly.

However, if a new influenza virus (the virus that causes the flu) infects humans, a lot more people can die from the flu. This is because the virus is so new that it can grow to high numbers in our bodies before our immune system can mount an effective response.

The Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report described an influenza virus never before seen in humans that is causing the flu in Hong Kong (take a look at a news story from the Hong Kong Standard). Thirteen people have gone to the hospital with the influenza A virus (H5N1). At least three of these patients have died from this viral infection. This new influenza A (H5N1) virus causes disease in birds (ex. chickens). The H5 (a viral protein called hemagglutinin) and N1 (a viral protein called neuraminidase) tells us what type of influenza virus is causing the flu. There are many many different types of influenza viruses. That is one reason why you need to get a flu shot every year. Usually humans have H1, H2 or H3 virus types. The most common influenza virus isolated this season is an influenza A (H3N2) virus.

Now don't get alarmed. A number of things need to be determined about this virus. Is it spread from person to person or is it transmitted only from birds to humans? Is this virus rapidly spread from person to person? None of these questions have been answered and it is way too early to know the answers to these questions.

If this virus is able to spread from person to person it could spread rapidly around the world. Unfortunately, this particular flu virus is very difficult to grow and scientists have not been able to develop a vaccine for this virus yet. This is one reason why the Hong Kong government decided to kill 1.4 million chickens. That should limit the spread of this nasty flu virus.

By the way, have you gotten your flu shot yet? There is still time.