Global bird flu toll rises to 78

The deaths of two more people in China and two in Turkey have brought the global toll from bird flu to 78, the World Health Organisation said today as it urged stepped-up preparation in case the illness turns into a pandemic strain.

Word of the latest two deaths in China – a 10-year-old girl in the south and a 35-year-old man in the east – followed confirmation by WHO of two bird flu fatalities in Turkey as the first outside eastern Asia.

China’s Agriculture Ministry meanwhile announced that 16,000 quails died during the first six days of the year in an outbreak in the south-western city of Guiyang – the country’s 28th reported outbreak of the illness in birds since October.

Officials culled an additional 42,000 birds in the city and surrounding areas in Guizhou province, the ministry said on its website.

The WHO’s Asian regional director, Shigeru Omi, urged nations to be ready to respond rapidly to any signs of a pandemic.

“Unlike the influenza pandemics of the past, this time the world has been given a warning that one may be on its way,” Omi said in a statement. “We should use this precious time to be ready to counterattack and try to stop any sign of a pandemic in its tracks.”

He was attending a two-day meeting in Tokyo scheduled to begin on Thursday, focusing on the need for early detection and early reporting, as well as measures that can be taken if a pandemic strikes.

Participants include China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea.

Bird flu has swept vast parts of Asia, decimating poultry populations and killing at least 76 people in the region since 2003. The virus has also spread into parts of Europe, with Turkey reporting at least 15 confirmed human cases and two deaths.

The global toll stood at 78, the WHO said on its website.

Most of the human infections have been linked to direct contact with sick poultry. But experts have warned that the virus could mutate into a form that would be easily transmitted between people, sparking a global flu pandemic that could kill millions.

In Turkey, health officials handed out leaflets, and imams blared warnings from mosque loudspeakers in the mostly Muslim country. The government ordered the culling of more than 300,000 fowl as a precaution.

European governments, jittery about a potential pandemic, sprayed down trucks from Turkey with disinfectant. In Italy, a consumer group urged the government to impose a ban on travel to Turkey, and in Greece, veterinary inspectors stepped up border checks.

In China, the 10-year-old girl from Guangxi province and a 35-year-old man from Jiangxi province both died last month from complications from the disease, said Roy Wadia, a spokesman for the WHO in Beijing.

“We’ve seen that happening in other cases as well, so it’s not surprising,” Wadia said.

The girl, named Tang, had been sick with a fever and pneumonia since November 23 and underwent emergency treatment, state media has reported. She died on December 16, Wadia said.

The man, a self-employed vendor, developed the same symptoms on December 4, state media said. Identified only by his surname, Guo, he had been recovering in the hospital. He died on December 30, Wadia said.

On Monday, China reported that a six-year-old boy in the central province of Hunan – the country’s eighth human case – had contracted bird flu late last month and was in critical condition.

The boy, surnamed Ouyang, had contracted the H5N1 virus and began showing symptoms on December 24.

By Tuesday, both the boy’s lungs showed damage, the official Xinhua news agency said, quoting Zhu Yimin, president of the Hunan Provincial Children’s Hospital.

An investigation found that poultry raised by the boy’s family at their home had died before the boy fell ill, the report said.

Two farmers in the central province of Anhui and a factory worker in the south-east province of Fujian – all women – were the other fatalities.