Villagers Watch and Wait in Indonesian Village Where Family Died

A spokesman for the World Health Organization said Wednesday that a team of researchers in Jakarta, Indonesia, has not been able to find an animal source of the bird flu infection that killed six family members. But the U.N. health agency has said that the deaths are the most important development in the spread of the virus since 2003, since none of the poultry in the area tested positive for the H5N1 virus, and the family appears to have had no contact with infected birds.

"We're not surprised that there is possible human-to-human transmission," said Steven Bjorge, the WHO team leader in the village of Kubu Sembelang. "The thing we're looking for is whether it's sustained beyond the immediate cluster." So far there is no evidence that the virus may have mutated to a form that will spread more easily between humans, possibly sparking a pandemic.

There have been isolated cases of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus, including one in Thailand involving a mother and child, but WHO officials say that such cases do not indicate a pandemic flu strain. There is no indication yet that anyone outside the family in Sumatra was infected by the virus. "No matter what's going on at this stage, it's a limited transmission between members of the same family," said WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley. "What we are looking out for is any sign of this virus going outside of this family cluster into the general community, that would be very worrying. We haven't seen any signs of that yet."

Biorge said that the virus the family members died from was genetically the same as the strain found circulating in the same area earlier in the year. Tests being carried out on poultry in the village have so far been negative, but antibodies were found in some specimens taken from chickens and ducks. However, those animals could have become sick much earlier or developed antibodies after being vaccinated, but no immunization records are available.

Biorge said the first victim in the family worked as a vegetable vendor in a market where live poultry is sold, so officials are trying to determine whether that is where she became infected. The woman was never tested for the bird flu virus after she died, but she was a part of the family cluster. Her 25-year old brother is the only remaining family member still living after being infected. Some samples have been taken from villagers in the area, but local authorities have been resistant to working with outside health experts.

So far bird flu has killed 124 people worldwide, with more than a quarter of those deaths occurring in Indonesia. WHO has enlisted local villagers to help monitor for anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms. If anyone is seen to be sick, they will be quarantined for observation and given Tamiflu.