Girl, eight, becomes fifth victim of bird flu

AN eight-year-old girl has become the fifth confirmed death from bird flu in Vietnam, the World Health Organisation said yesterday as Asia went on alert against the chicken-borne virus.

Although some governments fretted and maintained tough disease controls, many consumers seemed unconcerned and bought up big on poultry ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations which start on Thursday. Health officials believe patients contract the illness, also known as avian flu, through contact with the droppings of sick birds. Eating properly cooked chicken is not believed to pose a risk.

Even so, chicken farms across Asia have been ravaged millions of fowl have died of infection or have been slaughtered as a precaution.

So far, there has been no evidence of person-to-person transmission. But its spread, along with the re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS with three recent cases confirmed in China has raised Asia's winter health fears.

WHO spokesman Bob Dietz said an eight-year-old girl from northern Ha Tay province died from Influenza A, or the H5N1 flu strain, on Saturday at the National Hospital for Paediatrics in Hanoi.

"We noticed a rapid deterioration in the patient after the first symptoms on January 11," said Mr Dietz. "By January 17, this young girl was dead. This is a pretty aggressive form of disease."

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has hit Vietnam, South Korea and Japan. A milder strain has been detected in Taiwan, which has killed some 50,000 chickens in the last week.

Vietnam is the only country to report human cases of the avian influenza at least 18 suspected cases and 13 deaths possibly linked to the disease.

The WHO has sent experts to Vietnam, where some 2 million chickens have died of infection or have been slaughtered as a precaution.

The fear of bird flu contamination has led some countries to impose bans on some chicken imports. In Japan and Hong Kong, sales of chicken have either kept pace with previous years or even shown increases.

The head of Hong Kong Poultry Wholesalers Association, Tsui Ming-tuen, said yesterday the territory's business is thriving, with sales up 20%-30% from the same time last year.

Hong Kong retailers are buying hundreds of thousands of chickens daily in this week's run-up to the Chinese New Year, a traditional time for family feasts, Mr Tsui said.

In Taipei, one restaurateur at a back-alley eatery said business has not been affected.

"We sell the same volume of chicken these days. Customers have no fear because they noticed that chickens struck with the flu have been destroyed," said Chu Cheng-teh.

Thailand, where bird flu has not been detected, is one of the few countries where chicken sales have dropped. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sought to ease fears about the flu, ordering chicken for the lunch menu of his weekly cabinet meeting today.

Still, consumers at a major discount retailer in Thailand, preparing for feasts to celebrate the Lunar New Year, have shunned chicken in favour of fish and pork, a Thai-language newspaper reported yesterday.

Street vendors and small restaurants in Bangkok also reported chicken sales have dived since late last week.

The H5N1 flu strain was first reported in humans in 1997 in Hong Kong, where 18 people were infected and six died. It cropped up again in Hong Kong last year, infecting two people and killing one of them.