[Influenza A (H5N1) in Hong Kong: Forerunner of a pandemic or just a scientifically interesting phenomenon and a useful exercise in pandemiology?].

In 1997, 18 influenza patients were detected who were infected with influenza A(H5N1) virus. Six patients died. Presumably most of the patients had acquired the infection directly from chickens with the fowl plague prevalent in China in 1997. These are the first reported cases of isolation of influenza viruses belonging to one of the H4-H15 subtypes from human influenza patients. Man-to-man transmission of the virus has not been demonstrated but cannot be excluded in every case. Genetic analyses of seven of these virus isolates showed that no reassortment with a human or porcine influenza virus had occurred. It is unpredictable whether the H5N1-virus in question will start a pandemic in the next few years.