BIRD FLU IS STILL GETTING WORSE, SPREADING

PAKISTAN:

PAKISTANI authorities have detected an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in chickens in a part of the northwest where the country recently had its first human death from the virus, a government official said on Saturday.

The new outbreak was found in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the official said.

'Samples from a poultry farm sent to us from Abbottabad have tested positive for the virus,' Food and Agriculture Ministry official Rafiq-ul-Usmani said, referring to a town in the province.

'We have already started culling at the farm.'

Several outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in poultry and other birds have been found in NWFP and the capital, Islamabad, since it was first detected in Pakistan in early 2006.

Pakistan confirmed its first human death from the virus in an area near Abbottabad in December.

Authorities confirmed two outbreaks at separate poultry farms in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi, in the south, early this month.

VIETNAM:

The 27-year-old man named Hoang Van Doan was admitted to the Bach Mai Hospital in the capital Hanoi on Feb. 12. He slaughtered chickens for meal on Feb. 5.

The Vietnamese Health Ministry on Feb. 13 confirmed a death of a 40-year-old man from northern Hai Duong province, who died on Feb. 13 after four days of treatment in the capital city, was infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1. The man named Do Van Sanslaughtered dead fighting chickens for meal before exhibiting bird flu symptoms on Feb. 2, said the TV report.

Late last month the ministry confirmed that a 32-year-old ethnic man named Tran Van Dong from northern Tuyen Quang province died from bird flu on Jan. 18. He slaughtered and ate dead fowls raised by his family for meal.

In late December 2007, after detecting no human cases of bird flu infections for nearly four months, the ministry confirmed that a four-year-old boy from northern Son La province died from bird flu on Dec. 16, 2007.

To date, Vietnam has reported a total of 104 human cases of bird flu infections, including 50 fatalities, since the disease started to hit the country in December 2003.

Vietnam currently has four localities having poultry being hit by bird flu: northern Thai Nguyen, central Quang Binh province, northern Quang Ninh province and southern Long An province, the Department of Animal Health under the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Thursday.

INDONESIA:

A 3-year-old Indonesian boy has died of bird flu, health officials said Saturday, announcing a second death from the illness in one day.

The two cases, which were apparently unrelated, brought Indonesia's death toll from the disease to 105.

The latest victim was identified only as Han, a 3-year-old boy from the southern part of the capital, Jakarta, who died Friday at a hospital in the city, radio El-Shinta reported.

Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official, confirmed the report but did not provide details.

Laboratory tests confirmed the boy had the dangerous H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, Kandun said. It was not clear how he was infected.

Earlier Saturday, the Health Ministry said that a 16-year-old Indonesian boy from Central Java province died of bird flu. The boy, whose name was not disclosed, became ill on Feb. 3 with a cough and other respiratory symptoms, according to the Health Ministry's Web site.

He died a week later in a hospital in the city of Solo, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) southeast of Jakarta, said Sumardi, a ministry spokesman. Like he many Indonesians, he goes by one name.

Tests confirmed the boy had been infected the H5N1 virus, the ministry's Web site said.

The 16-year-old victim's neighbors had sick chickens on their property and the boy apparently slaughtered some of them before he became ill, the ministry said.

Indonesia has regularly recorded human deaths from bird flu since the virus began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in 2003.

BIRD FLU IS UNSTOPPABLE.
IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME...