Avian Flu, Bassetti: “Sooner or later it will be a global problem”

First case of avian flu in humans in the US without contact with animals. “This virus is gradually getting closer to humans and is closer than we can think,” Matteo Bassetti, director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa, told Adnkronos Salute. “If what the CDC says is true, and I have no doubts about it, that a human case of avian influenza A (H5) has been recorded in Missouri without any contact with animals, it is not good news. We were just waiting for when the avian flu would be transmitted from human to human and it seems to me that this case could be it.. Now we await further certainties from the US on this matter but sooner or later avian flu will be a global problem and will have to be addressed”.