S.Korea confirms human bird flu carriers

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=20d2cb1d103d8eae

South Korea said Friday it had identified four human carriers of the bird flu virus, but none had developed any symptoms of the disease.

The state-run Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that four workers who had slaughtered poultry from 2003 to 2004 had tested positive for avian influenza, the Korea Times reported Friday.

However, none of the four had suffered flu-like symptoms or any other illnesses believed to have been related to bird flu infection, the agency said.
more...

I wonder if these carriers could have antibodies to protect them...

[SaveElmer]

1. This was also noted in Hong Kong in 1997....

Several hundred people were tested, found to have contracted the virus, but never became ill.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. some of us are strep throat carriers....

Not me, but my brother is. I got it once, and never again. :shrug:

I'm thinking this is blown out of proportion somewhat. The only cases that get reported are the ones where someone dies or is sick enough to get a doctors attention. I think there are probably hundreds out there who got a little sick and recovered... no stats on them.

[tenshi816]

6. That's very true.

My GP here in the UK told me that most people carry one form of strep or other, but that it's usually not active. I'm a carrier of Steptococcus B, yet I've never had strep throat. The only time Strep B is a real problem is if it's active when a woman is giving birth because it can be passed to her baby, causing sepsis or meningitis. Step B can also affect the elderly, but this is pretty rare, or so I'm told.

Being a Strep B carrier has never affected me at all, except that my sons had to be born by C-section. It has had no effect on my health and I can't transmit it to anyone else (well, unless I were to have another baby and that's not going to happen).

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. I don't know who BigNews is, but I don't think they know what

they are talking about.

If the people have no symptoms and are not infectious, they are not carriers. They simply have antibodies from having had contact with the flu. A totally different thing.

If they are infectious, then they are carriers, and that means the flu has made the jump that everyone has been dreading. The very brief article doesn't say that.

[lovuian]

4. I didn't see that the article said they were infectious or not???

There are people in the hospital that carries MRSA in their noses and are asymptomatic and yet can be infectious to immunesuppressed people...

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. If that's the case, we are in deep shit. nt

[FlaGranny]

7. Ever heard of

Typhoid Mary? She had no symptoms but WAS infectious and a carrier.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/a/typhoidmary.htm

[lovuian]

8. yes we are... it will make the Bird Flu very hard to contain

because an asymptomatic person may not be released out into another area...

[mike_c]

9. agreed, this story is utterly bogus as written....

Not only is there no evidence to suggest that these people are "carriers" of bird flu, it is far more likely that they were simply exposed, perhaps to a less virulent strain, or more likely the virus simply circulated in their bloodstream but did not successfully invade respiratory tissues. In any event "tested positive for bird flu" simply means that antibodies were detected in their blood, indicating exposure.