Limited bird flu spread among Pakistan brothers: WHO

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - At least three brothers in Pakistan were infected with the bird flu virus last year, and some human-to-human spread likely occurred, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

But the United Nations agency said the deadly disease had not gone beyond the family cluster near Peshawar, suggesting "limited human to human transmission".

"This outbreak did not extend into the community and appropriate steps were taken to reduce future risks of human infections," it said in a statement.

Similar clusters of H5N1 bird flu virus within families have been previously detected in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The WHO had earlier confirmed only one human H5N1 infection in Pakistan -- a 25-year-old man who died in late November. On Thursday, it said international laboratory tests have now confirmed that two of that man's brothers also had the disease.

One of those two brothers -- who both fully recovered -- was a veterinarian involved in culling infected poultry, whose symptoms began in late October, making him the first or "index case" of the bird flu cluster.

None of the veterinarian's brothers had any direct contact with sick or dead poultry, according to the WHO.

But it said a fourth brother, who also died in mid-November after having close contact with the sick veterinarian, was considered a "probable" case. No blood or tissue samples had been taken from his body, so it never could be proven.