The transmission of the bird flu virus to healthcare workers in Vietnam has been described by a medical expert here as "a significant development" and one that increases the likelihood of a worldwide pandemic of influenza.
Health authorities in Hanoi have confirmed that a second nurse is now suspected of having contracted avian flu from a patient.
The 41-year-old woman, who had been treating a young man known to have the deadly bird flu virus, has been admitted to hospital with the classic symptoms of the disease.
It had earlier been confirmed that a 26-year-old male nurse had caught the H5N1 strain of influenza from the same patient.
Dr Mary Upton of the Labour Party has urged an increase in the number of inspection staff at Irish airports and ports to increase checks and prevent avian flu getting into the country.
Dr Upton described as frightening statements by British scientist Prof Hugh Pennington, president of the Society for General Microbiology, that a human flu pandemic was both imminent and inevitable. "He is a leading British scientist and he has predicted that over two million British people could die if the flu virus moves into people from the infected birds," she said.
"The department needs to increase the number of staff and the level of inspection at airports and ports in the country before there is an incident that will have major consequences on our food trade and/or human health," she added.
The public health expert said the World Health Organisation (WHO) would now be looking closely to see if there was any evidence of nurse-to-nurse or nurse-to-patient transmission of the virus.
This would be the next step in the avian flu increasing its infectivity among humans prior to a pandemic developing.
The young man thought to have infected the two nurses is at the centre of a cluster of influenza infection. His sister (14) and grandfather (80) have tested positive for the same strain of flu. The 21-year-old patient is believed to have contracted the H5N1 virus by drinking raw duck blood, a local delicacy.
Avian flu is caused by a new type of influenza virus that has emerged in southeast Asia in recent years. It has killed 47 people, and has a mortality rate of up to 80 per cent. The WHO has warned that when the virus mutates into a form that spreads quickly between humans, rapid air travel means "the gravest possible danger of a pandemic" will exist.
A spokesman for the Minister for Health said yesterday that Mary Harney had "given the go-ahead to the Health Service Executive to begin acquiring antiviral drugs". This is in accordance with recent advice from international experts speaking at a conference in Dublin, who said countries must stockpile antivirals and have a plan to deal with a pandemic.
Ms Harney has sanctioned €15 million for the purchase of Tamiflu (oseltamivir), the only antiviral drug known to be effective against the H5N1 strain of the influenza virus. This should enable the State to stockpile enough of the drug to treat 25 per cent of the population. However, there is some concern that because of limited production capacity at the Roche manufacturing facility in Switzerland, there may be some delay before the stockpile will be in place.