- (PA News) -- Pigs in Vietnam have tested positive for
the bird flu virus that has infected millions of poultry across Asia and
killed 18 people, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation said in Hanoi.
-
- "Nasal swabs taken from pigs have been positive
for H5N1," said Anton Rychener, Hanoi representative for the UN agency.
-
- "It continues to be under investigation and is of
concern. We'll be bringing in an expert."
-
- Officials have said the bird flu sweeping Asia is contracted
through direct contact with infected birds. But experts have said it is
possible that the virus jumped to humans through another mammal, such as
pigs, which have been implicated in human flu epidemics in the past.
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- Swine are often housed with poultry in traditional family
farms in Asia and are genetically more similar to humans than are birds.
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- Rychener said the pigs were tested recently in and around
Hanoi.
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- Health officials have warned that if the bird flu virus
combines with a human influenza virus, the result could create a more lethal
strain that can be passed from human to human.
-
- Avian influenza has killed 13 people in Vietnam and five
in Thailand.
-
- ©2004 Scotsman.com
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- http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2498230
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