Children most likely victims of bird flu

ONE victim is a five-year-old boy who got sick after killing a duck for New Year’s dinner and is now in critical condition.

Another is his 12-year-old sister, who died last weekend. Three were siblings who succumbed in rapid succession, leaving their grieving parents with just one surviving child.

Just as in east and south-east Asia, where at least 77 people have died of bird flu since it re-emerged there in 2003, children appear to be particularly susceptible to the lethal H5N1 strain - if only because they are more likely to touch or play with diseased birds.