Pandemic fears as bird flu strikes

INDONESIA confirmed its fourth human death from bird flu yesterday and said another person was suspected of having the virus as global alarm grew that the disease would mutate and become a pandemic.

Speaking in New York on Thursday, World Health Organisation chief Lee Jong-wook said the virus was moving toward becoming transmissible by humans and that the international community had no time to waste to prevent a pandemic.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus has killed 64 people in four Asian countries since late 2003 and also spread to Russia and Europe.