- HANOI (Reuters) - The death
toll from Asia's bird flu outbreak rose to 15 Wednesday as the virus ravaged
poultry flocks in 10 countries and, most worrying, spread in China.
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- Vietnam said a 17-year-old woman had died of the disease
and Thailand said tests confirmed a six-year-old boy who died earlier in
the week had been infected with the H5N1 virus.
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- The H5N1 bug, which could cross the species barrier,
was spreading despite a mass slaughter of poultry the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture
Organization estimates at 50 million birds.
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- Guangdong, the southern Chinese province from which the
SARS virus emerged before affecting 30 countries last year and killing
nearly 800 people, has the H5N1 avian virus.
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- Now 12 of China's 31 provinces confirm or suspect outbreaks
bird flu. The disease was confirmed in 53 of Vietnam's 64 provinces.
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- China has yet to report any human infections, unlike
badly hit Thailand with 17 suspected cases as well as five confirmed and
two probable deaths from the disease.
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- Most of the deaths have been attributed to direct contact
with infected fowl, like a Thai boy who was present when his grandfather,
now in hospital, killed chickens.
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- But Guangdong, where people live cheek by jowl with poultry
and other farm animals, is widely regarded as a breeding ground for viruses
which could cause a human pandemic.
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- That is seen as a remote threat and the World Health
Organization said the possibility two Vietnamese sisters had got bird flu
from their brother did not mean a pandemic was nearer.
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- Even so WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley said: "We
are looking at a very serious situation...At the moment, we are losing
more than we are winning."
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- The FAO said cullings on 20 farms had not stopped a smaller
outbreak in Laos -- between China, Vietnam and Thailand.
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- But Thailand believes it is winning the fight.
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- Its "red zones," the five-km (three-mile) area
around a confirmed outbreak within which the government orders the slaughter
of all poultry, were down to just 14 in seven provinces, said government
spokesman Jakrapob Penkair.
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- Monday, Thailand had 35 red zones in 16 provinces, down
from more than 140 in 29 of its 76 provinces last week following the slaughter
of at least 25 million poultry.
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- Thailand, the world's fourth biggest chicken exporter,
even hopes it can persuade the European Union to shorten a six-month ban
on poultry imports from the Southeast Asian nation.
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- "I don't think they will ban us for six months since
we have tackled the problem quickly," Finance Minister Suchart Jaovisidha
told reporters a day after the EU confirmed its ban.
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- EU governments are drawing up contingency plans including
mass culls, transport curbs and farm disinfection.
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- Some have special mobile gassing units to rapidly cull
poultry. Others are dusting off plans from the foot-and-mouth crisis when
farms were isolated and animal movement restricted.
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- Checks for live animals and poultry meat were stepped
up at borders and airports, especially on travelers from Asia.
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- "What really matters is that the flu doesn't come
our way," said a French Farm Ministry spokesman.
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- German doctors gave the all clear to a Vietnamese who
showed flu-like symptoms after returning to Germany from Vietnam.
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- But China, castigated for covering up the outbreak of
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), remains a worry, though Beijing
appears to be taking the bird flu outbreaks seriously.
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- The Ministry of Railways inspected baggage from affected
areas under a bird flu reporting system introduced Tuesday and vehicles
from those regions faced spot checks, Xinhua said.
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- Beijing's biggest bus company disinfected its vehicles
and depots daily, as it did during the SARS outbreak, and the city was
spraying long-distance buses coming from flu-plagued zones.
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- Beijing Zoo shut part of its bird garden and millions
of homing pigeons reared in the city were grounded.
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- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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