# 1396
Apparently the mode of transmission in the father-son case from China earlier this month is less certain than the cluster in Pakistan. H2H is considered possible, but impossible to prove at this time.
A hat tip to Carol@SC at the Wiki for picking up this article.
WHO: Human-to-human transmission unclear in Chinese bird flu case
Geneva (dpa) - The World Health Organization said Friday it was impossible to say whether a case of bird flu in China involving a 52- year-old man was due to human-to-human transmission - but, even if it was, it was down to very close contact between the victims.
The Assistant Director-General for Health Security at WHO, Dr David Heymann, said the only proven transmission of this nature so far, in Indonesia and Thailand, had been as a result of very "close contact" in a "very circumscribed area."
WHO was still awaiting final tests results for a recent cluster of cases in the north-west region of Pakistan. The team of WHO experts, who travelled to the area earlier this week, believed though that the first-ever human cases in the country were again a result of intimate contact.
Heymann, said the virus could on "occasional instances be transmitted" between humans but it was not transmittable like influenza with a sneeze. "It's not that kind of transmission."
