No need to panic about bird flu yet, says WHO

THE discovery of a lethal strain of bird flu in Chinese pigs has taken the world closer to a human flu pandemic but there is no need to panic yet, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, Shigeru Omi, said more information was needed on the potentially grave development in the spread of a virus which has killed 27 people across Asia this year.

Speaking after the Chinese government admitted yesterday that the H5N1 virus was found in pigs last year, Mr Omi said: “We would like to know how widespread it is and how this infection took place.