MSNBC/Assocated Press 1/15/04: Four new bird flu cases worry officials

[Guest guest]

>

>Four new bird flu cases worry officials

>Vietnam on Thursday reported four more suspected

>human cases of the bird flu that has infected

>poultry in three Asian countries, while China

>banned imports of chicken and the World Health

>Organization warned of an increasingly urgent

>situation.

>http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3946427/

>

 

Kham / Reuters

A man transports chickens Wednesday at a market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

 

 

Four new bird flu cases worry officials

12 deaths reported in Vietnam, China bans chicken imports

 

 

The Associated Press

Updated: 8:36 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2004

 

HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam on Thursday reported

four more suspected human cases of the bird flu

that has infected poultry in three Asian

countries, while China banned imports of chicken

and the World Health Organization warned of an

increasingly urgent situation.

 

Vietnam already has 14 suspected human cases of

avian flu, with 12 deaths. One of the four

suspected new cases has died.

 

WHO experts and Vietnamese health ministry

officials are discussing how to contain the

outbreak. WHO lab tests have confirmed that the

three people who died were infected with

Influenza A, or the H5N1 flu strain.

 

Bird flu has infected millions of chickens in

Vietnam, South Korea and Japan, prompting those

nations to order huge slaughters at poultry farms.

 

A central Taiwan farm slaughtered 20,000 chickens

Thursday after some of the birds tested positive

for a milder strain of the flu.

 

" The illness posed a potential, but not an

immediate threat, and we decided to take the most

stringent measure, " said Lin Shih-yu, a Council

of Agriculture official.

 

'Greater phase of urgency'

Beijing halted poultry imports from Vietnam,

South Korea and Japan to the Chinese mainland,

following similar measures by its Hong Kong

territory and by Cambodia earlier this week.

 

" We are moving to a phase of greater urgency, "

said Pascale Brudon, the WHO representative in

Hanoi. " There was a lot of awareness about the

strong need to work quickly. Vietnamese officials

are taking the matter very seriously. "

 

The virus - highly contagious among chickens - is

believed to spread to humans through contact with

infected birds. There have been no reports of the

disease being transmitted from one person to

another.

 

The same strain of bird flu killed six people in

Hong Kong in 1997, when more than 1 million

chickens and ducks were slaughtered in the

territory.

 

Officials also have said they believe there is no

danger from eating properly cooked meat and eggs

from infected birds.

 

Deadlier than SARS

Regional WHO officials have warned, however, that

if human-to-human transmission occurs, it could

turn avian flu into a deadlier epidemic than SARS.

 

On Thursday, officials at Bach Mai Hospital in

Hanoi said a 31-year-old man from northern Thai

Binh province, 60 miles southwest of Hanoi, died

after contracting what doctors suspect was bird

flu.

 

Three of his relatives were admitted to the

tropical disease unit's isolation ward.

 

Vietnam is culling an estimated 1.4 million

infected birds, with losses of $2.7 million to

the poultry industry, agriculture officials said.

 

" I've lost everything. I'm more worried about my

lost money than my health, even though I'm also

afraid of contracting the disease, " said Nguyen

Van Giang, 30, of Phu Nghia Tri village in

southern Tien Giang province, some 45 miles

southwest of Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Giang said a third of his 2,100 chickens have

died. The provincial government is giving farmers

30 cents for each slaughtered chicken, but

farmers say their market value is about $2 each.

 

" I'm trying where I can to keep the remaining

chickens, but I'm not sure whether they can

survive, " he said while incinerating his dead

birds.

 

In Japan, officials prepared Thursday to bury

36,400 dead chickens confirmed to have the virus.

The affected chickens were raised at a poultry

farm in the town of Ato, about 500 miles

southwest of Tokyo.

© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast,

rewritten or redistributed.

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