Bird flu death in Vietnam
Vietnam has reported its first human bird flu death in more than three months, taking the country's toll to 42, as Indonesia investigates whether a teenager succumbed to bird flu.
The 16-year-old girl died at a private hospital in south Jakarta on Tuesday after being admitted on Sunday.
"Based on the symptoms, especially high fever, heavy pneumonia and a rapid lowering of lymphocyte cells in the blood, I tend to believe that the patient has bird flu," said hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said, adding that her condition had rapidly deteriorated.
The girl lived in a residential area in East Jakarta near a major bird market and her parents kept several birds at home although none had so far died, he said.
Indonesia has had more than a dozen suspected bird flu deaths, but only five have been confirmed.
Four other Indonesians have been confirmed as carrying the virus but have either recovered or are still receiving treatment.
In Vietnam, a Hanoi man, 35, died in hospital last month after testing positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus.
A health official told Reuters that he became ill after eating chicken with his relatives, who did not fall sick.
It is the first bird flu death in Vietnam since July 24.
"Samples taken from the victim were found to be positive for the virus in tests carried out at the National Institute of Epidemiology in Hanoi," health ministry official Tran Duc Long told AFP.
Vietnamese authorities' official figures now show a total of 92 human cases of bird flu since late 2003, with 42 deaths. The country accounts for more than two-thirds of total human fatalities from bird flu.
Bird flu meeting
News of the latest death came as experts meeting in Geneva warned that a bird flu pandemic is inevitable, could kill millions and inflict up to US$800 billion in economic damage if the world fails to defend itself.
Vietnam has ordered 25 million doses of Tamiflu, the frontline medicine against a feared global flu pandemic.
The country currently has stocks of 600,000 capsules for a population of 82 million, but is also pursuing talks with Swiss drugs maker Roche on producing Tamiflu for itself.
Efforts to prepare for a possible pandemic have gathered pace as winter approaches with experts warning that the cold weather could allow the virus to thrive.
The fear is that the more H5N1 virus spreads, the greater chance it has to mutate, picking up genes from ordinary flu that could make it highly contagious from human to human.
The Geneva gathering is the most senior global meeting of doctors, veterinarians and public-health officials since the H5N1 influenza virus erupted in Asian poultry flocks in 2003 and started to claim human lives.
The conference takes place against a backdrop of growing concern about the failure to roll back H5N1 in Asia, its spread to Europe and the vulnerability of Africa, the world's poorest continent.
Special Broadcasting Service Australia - November 8, 2005.
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