The Change Mariner

Asia Bird Flu Spreads, Claims 7th Victim

Yahoo! News:

A 6-year-old Thai boy became Asia's seventh confirmed bird flu fatality, and the government said Monday it was awaiting lab results to determine whether the disease killed four other people in a northern province.

The World Health Organization said the search for a vaccine had been set back because the virus had mutated. A previous strain detected in Hong Kong in 1997 can no longer be used as the key to producing a vaccine, so an international effort has become necessary, WHO said.

Scientists believe people get the disease through contact with sick birds. Although there has been no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission, health officials are concerned the disease might mutate further and link with regular influenza to create a form that could trigger the next human flu pandemic.

"This is now spreading too quickly for anybody to ignore it," said WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley in Manila, Philippines.

Officials in Bangkok said they were investigating whether the virus might be carried by migratory birds.