Avian influenza H5N1 is a disease of birds
A recent epidemiological investigation conducted in Cambodia clearly confirms that H5N1 strain
HPAI responsible for the panornitic in Asia is a disease of commercial and backyard poultry and
by accidental contact, free-living and migratory avian species. HPAI is not an infection
transmitted to humans despite the dire predictions and prognostications of doomsayers in the
WHO and other public health organizations with vested interests in acquiring funding and
resources.

Results of the comprehensive study are published in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Participants
included the Cambodian Ministry of Health, Institute Pasteur, WHO, Public Health Department of
Hong Kong and the US Centers for Disease Control .

In March a poultry farmer in Kampot Province handled and processed chickens presumably dying
from HPAI. He subsequently became ill and died of H5N1 infection. An epidemiologic study was
conducted among 93 households in close proximity to the index case. None of the 351 residents
showed antibody to H5N1 applying an indirect immunodiffusion test. The sample size and
sensitivity of the antibody detection procedure was capable of detecting at least one person
who had seroconverted, with a 95% probability, assuming a prevalence rate of 2% in the
population.
The conclusion from this study is that despite presumed exposure documented in questionnaires
the subjects were refractory to Avian Influenza. As noted in a commentary in May , citing
studies in the USA and Holland, the H5N1 virus attaches to host cells in the respiratory
mucosa using alpha 2-3 sialic acid receptors. Humans, in contrast to avian species, carry alpha
2-6 sialic acid receptors. The extensive contact between millions of village dwellers and
poultry farmers in SE Asia over the past seven years has yielded less than 250 confirmed
cases, attesting to the relatively low susceptibility to infection.

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