Bangkok
Thailand announced a national health alert this week after officials confirmed the first likely person-to-person transmission of avian flu. A woman who died of the disease last week is believed to have contracted it from her daughter, who died just two weeks earlier. World health officials worry that the flu could mutate into a highly infectious strain, but Thai doctors said there was no evidence that this had happened yet. They said the human transmission occurred only after weeks of close face-to-face contact, as the woman was caring for her daughter. Human avian flu transmission was suspected last year in Hong Kong, but was impossible to prove because many victims had also been in contact with sick birds.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raidsIn the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classroomsPros and cons The devices could be major distractions
