Vietnam confirms new bird flu death

The World Health Organisation confirmed another death in Vietnam from the bird flu virus today, bringing Asia’s death toll to as many as seven people.

Vietnam and Thailand are the only countries where avian flu has been passed onto humans and Thailand’s prime minister today denied accusations that his government tried to cover up the outbreak.

But the virus has stricken or exposed millions of chickens in six Asian countries, raising fears it might mutate, link with regular influenza and foster the next flu pandemic among humans.

Together with the re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Asia was on a region-wide health alert as governments scrambled to contain the bird flu outbreak, stepping up mass chicken culls.

Fears that the disease was spreading remained high as the WHO confirmed two new cases of bird flu in southern Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, which previously had not reported any patients.

One of the cases – a 13-year-old-boy – died on Thursday, bringing the toll to as many as seven. Five others had earlier died in Vietnam while a man, who bred fighting cocks and was suspected of having avian flu, died in Thailand yesterday.

So far it is thought that all the human victims caught the disease from fowl. But the WHO fears bird flu is highly adaptable and might leap the species barrier, combine with a human flu virus and create a dangerous new form.

It says anyone exposed to the disease should be quarantined to avoid contact with sufferers of regular human influenza, because a hybrid virus might accelerate the spread of the disease.

Bird flu has swept through Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand, where two boys, aged six and seven, are seriously ill and two other people are thought to have been exposed.

A massive slaughter of chickens is under way to stop the spread of the virus. But the operation has its own risks. The WHO has warned that workers involved in culling can be exposed.

Meanwhile, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today denied accusations that his government tried to cover up the outbreak of avian flu.

“There has been a lot of talk that the government has been trying to cover this up,” Thaksin said in a weekly radio address. “That we didn’t say anything doesn’t mean we weren’t working. We’ve been working very hard.”

Thai farmers have been saying for more than a week that their chickens, like those in neighbouring countries, were dying of bird flu. But until yesterday, officials had maintained that the chickens were suffering from fowl cholera - which they said posed no danger to people.

Thaksin sought to explain his government’s slow response, saying it had to balance public health issues with economic concerns.

“If we came out to say this was (bird flu) without the lab results, it would have caused even more panic,” he said. “The government has treated this as if it was bird flu.”

Still, his explanation and calls for calm have been met by tough criticism from opposition politicians and senators.

Thailand is among the world’s top five poultry exporters. Stocks in chicken producers plunged on the Bangkok share market and the European Union joined Japan, together Thailand’s largest chicken markets, in slapping import bans. Many others have also imposed bans.

Thaksin said Thailand’s gross domestic product would likely slip about 0.1% because of the bans.

On Wednesday Thailand will host a meeting of agriculture and health ministers from bird flu-affected countries.