Two more bird flu deaths

Two more bird flu deaths in people – one announced in Vietnam and one in Thailand – brought the death toll from the disease to 12 today, and China said it suspected the virus had reached poultry in one of its remotest regions.

The World Health Organisation continued to investigate the deaths of two Vietnamese sisters who may have caught the disease through contact with their brother in what would be the first human-to-human transmission in the bird flu outbreak sweeping Asia this year.