Thailand denies bird flu cover-up

AFTER days of denying it had a problem, Thailand became the latest flash-point in the bird flu crisis with claims yesterday that a village boy is infected as the World Health Organisation warned that the fast-spreading virus could mutate into a form deadlier to humans.

Bird flu has killed five people in Vietnam and infected millions of chickens across Asia. So far, fowl are believed to have directly infected people, but scientists worry about the possibility of human-to-human transmission.

WHO spokesman Bob Dietz, said: “The more widespread it becomes, the greater the possibility that the virus could become altered and become more of a threat to the human population.”