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Oxford (pte019/17.02.2005/10:15) - The spread of bird flu may have been underestimated due to a misunderstanding of how it affects the body, according to British scientists. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, experts at Oxford University http://www.ox.ac.uk who have been studying deaths in Vietnam suggest that the disease can attack all parts of the body, and not just the lungs, as previously thought. According to the New England Journal of Medicine http://content.nejm.org , the scientists believe that humans could pass the virus on to each other. Up to now, there have been 33 deaths due to bird flu - all of which were in Asian countries. However, the experts believe that millions could be at risk if the virus acquires the ability to jump from person to person.
According to the team of scientists, their findings suggest that the number of cases of human infection with the virus may have been underestimated. The World Health Organisation has announced that it would change its definition of what constituted a bird flu infection. The researchers examined the deaths of two young children - a brother and a sister - who lived in a single room with their parents in southern Vietnam. The children were admitted to hospital suffering from gastro-enteritis and acute encephalitis, which are commonplace in the country. Neither of them showed respiratory problems, which have been considered typical in cases of avian flu.
However, analysis revealed tat he four-year-old boy had traces of the virus in his faeces, blood, nose and in the fluid around his brain. This indicates that the virus, known as H5N1, can attack all parts of the body, and not just the lungs. It is also suspected that his nine-year-old sister, who died two weeks earlier in February last year, was also suffering from the virus. "This illustrates that when someone is suffering from any severe illness we should consider if avian flu might be the cause," said Menno de Jong, the lead researcher. "It may be possible to treat but you have to act in the early stages, so awareness of the whole spectrum of symptoms in an emerging disease like avian flu is vital. It appears this virus is progressively adapting to an increasing range of mammals in which it can cause infection, and the range of disease in humans is wide and clearly includes encephalitis," he added.
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