# 1386
Great news, assuming it's true.
Officials are repeating the mantra that there have been no new human infections in Pakistan since Nov. 23rd, and that the threat has subsided there.
Pakistan says no threat of bird flu pandemic
Wed 19 Dec 2007, 10:33 GMT
ISLAMABAD, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Wednesday there was no threat of a pandemic from bird flu, as World Health Organisation experts carried out tests in the country's northwest after eight people were infected by the virus.
Pakistani authorities confirmed the eight cases at the weekend, including one death.
The WHO said they were likely to be a combination of infections from poultry and limited human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 avian flu virus due to close contact.
The WHO says a similar case occurred in Indonesia in 2006 among family members believed to have contracted the virus while caring for sick loved ones.
"There is no threat of epidemic or pandemic and there are no fresh cases being reported," Ministry of Health spokesman Orya Maqbool Jan Abbasi told Reuters. The last human case was reported on Nov. 23.
"I think we are safe, but we are very cautions and have taken all the precautionary measures."
We continue to get conflicting accounts out of Pakistan. Some reports say there have been no new human cases in nearly a month, while others indicate there may be fresh cases.
I suspect it may take a few days before these `inconsistencies' can be worked out.
