Probable Person-to-Person Spread of Avian Influenza

Various strains of avian influenza viruses have been transmitted from birds to humans, but person-to-person transmission is rare, especially outside family clusters. The prospect that these deadly viruses could adapt and be transmitted more easily among people has grave public health implications.

In February 2015, a 49-year-old man with fever, cough, and sore throat was hospitalized in China after two visits to outpatient clinics, where he had received antibiotics and traditional Chinese medicine. At the hospital, antibiotic treatment continued, but the patient's temperature rose, and computed tomography revealed bilateral pneumonia. Five days after admission, he was transferred to a second hospital, where real-time reverse transcriptase (r…