India and Malaysia breathe sigh of relief as suspects cleared of bird flu

Feb 22 2006

The news that people being treated for suspected bird flu in India and Malaysia, do not in fact have the virus will come as a relief to many and calm fear that the disease has spread to humans.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) said it would carry out tests for bird flu on four Nigerians, including a woman who died last week.

Authorities in India, who are dealing with the country's first outbreak of the disease in birds, say at least seven of the people quarantined in the west of the country had tested negative for the deadly H5N1 strain, but tests results on another 5 are still being carried out.

Malaysia too can breathe a sigh of relief as tests there on five people admitted to hospital with breathing problems have also proved negative.

Tests results are still pending on two children.

The country has recently been hit by its first bird flu infection in poultry in more than a year.

Experts are concerned as the sudden resurgence of the H5N1 virus is spreading rapidly across Europe, into Africa and India, the latter two countries having huge numbers of people living in poor rural settings alongside their livestock and domestic fowl.

Approval has been given by European Union animal health experts for the French and Dutch to vaccinate millions of birds as a precaution against the virus.

The two countries are Europe's largest poultry producers and the poultry markets there have already been affected.

It is estimated that as many as two hundred million birds have died of the virus or been culled around the world.

The H5N1 virus has to date killed more than 90 people since 2003 in seven countries in Asia and the Middle East.

The disease remains a disease of birds and to date all humans have been infected by close contact with sick or dead birds.

Experts have long feared the virus could mutate and spread easily among people, triggering a pandemic.

The World Health Organisation says four Nigerians, including a woman who died last week, will be tested for bird flu after suffering respiratory problems during their illness.

WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng says another three people have made full recoveries. Two were children who Nigerian health authorities had already ruled out as bird flu victims.

All four had been in contact with poultry infected with H5N1.

Health officials in Indonesia say local hospital tests have indicated a 27-year-old Jakarta woman died of bird flu. The WHO says her death takes the death toll in Indonesia to 20.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says the rapid spread of the virus in poultry in Nigeria has the potential to cause a regional disaster despite efforts by Nigerian authorities to control it.

The FAO is concerned the disease could become endemic in Nigeria's poultry and is urging the Nigerian government to impose a vaccination program as six states of the country's states have confirmed outbreaks in birds.

European officials continue to encourage people to continue eating poultry saying, cooked poultry meat and eggs are safe to eat, but many consumers are not convinced.

Also in Europe, Austrian authorities have found H5N1 in two chickens and three ducks in an animal sanctuary in the southern city of Graz.

The birds are the first case of domestic poultry found to be carrying the virus in the EU.