THAILAND yesterday confirmed its 10th death from bird flu and said the woman may have contracted the virus from her daughter, raising the alarming possibility of human-to-human transmission of the disease.

Asia’s bird flu epidemic is a ”crisis of global importance”, two UN agencies warned as Thailand went on nationwide alert yesterday after the virus was confirmed in a woman whose case has raised concerns over human-to-human transmission.

THE bird flu eruption in Asia, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) says could set off an epidemic worse than SARS, has leapt into humans in Thailand and appeared in Cambodia, officials said yesterday.