Flu fears for hospitalised Belgian

A GERMAN minister has claimed the deadly bird flu is moving closer to infecting humans in Europe, while a Belgian man, who last week returned from China, has checked into a Brussels hospital with flu symptoms.

The man returned from a rural Chinese region where bird flu is endemic, on Saturday, and decided to go to hospital, on Monday, with high fever and strong headaches. He has been put into isolation while doctors run tests for H5N1.

No human cases of bird flu have been registered in the EU so far.