Islamabad: Two deaths in a family in northwestern Pakistan last November appear to have involved limited human-to-human transmission of bird flu, the World Health Organization reported in Geneva on Thursday.

The report said the two deaths took place in Peshawar, where a bird flu outbreak was reported late last year.

The WHO said tests have shown that three brothers had the often deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza and one of them died from the disease.

The other two recovered, but a fourth brother, whose remains were not tested for bird flu, also died last year and it is believed the probable cause of death was bird flu.

One of the four, who has fully recovered, is a veterinarian who had been culling infected birds. He is believed to have been the transmission point for the virus to his brothers because none of the other three had any contact with infected fowl.

The WHO noted, however, the infection appears not to have extended beyond the family group.

Source : PTI