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WHO chases up bird flu report


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Health experts warn that the bird flu virus will be the most likely cause of the next human flu pandemic.
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(CNN) -- The World Health Organization says it is chasing up reports of another case of "bird flu" infection in a 42-year-old man in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The man is alive, but his older brother, a 45-year-old from Thai Binh Province, became ill early this month and died of a respiratory illness. His lab tests were reportedly negative for influenza A (H5) virus.

If the case is confirmed, that would bring to 34 the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of avian flu in Vietnam in the past year. Twenty-five of them have proved fatal.

Thailand has reported 17 cases in the past year, 12 of them fatal, according to the WHO.

Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, which was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide.

Some viruses can mutate into highly pathogenic viruses and public health officials are concerned the avian virus could spark an epidemic among people.

The first known infection of people with an avian influenza virus occurred in Hong Kong in 1997, when the H5N1 strain caused respiratory disease in 18 people, six of whom died.

Investigators found that close contact with live infected poultry was the source of the human infection.

WHO officials credit swift destruction of Hong Kong's flocks with possibly averting a pandemic.

Of the 15 avian subtypes of influenza virus, H5N1 is particularly worrisome to public health officials because it mutates quickly and has been proven to be able to acquire genes from viruses infecting other animal species.

It can also cause severe disease in people.

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 caused 40 million to 50 million deaths worldwide. It was followed by pandemics in 1957-1958 and 1968-1969.

Experts say another influenza pandemic is inevitable.


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