A factory worker in Thailand became Asia's 23rd victim of bird flu yesterday, the same day that China declared victory over the virus that has decimated the region's poultry over the past few months.
Japan redoubled efforts against its still-simmering outbreak with new penalties for farmers who fail to report cases.
Since the outbreak emerged last December, eight Asian countries have battled a severe form of the virus that left about 100 million chickens dead from infections and government-ordered culls. Pakistan and Taiwan dealt with a milder strain.
The virus has jumped to humans only in the two hardest-hit countries -- Vietnam and Thailand -- killing a total of 23 people and raising fears of a health crisis that would buffet the region's economy more severely than last year's SARS outbreak.
Both Vietnam and Thailand have said in the past two weeks that their outbreaks are coming under control, and bird flu's effects on the region's travel industry have paled compared with last year's bout with SARS.
Early fears among World Health Organization officials that the H5N1 bird flu virus could mix with a human strain and spark the next deadly global pandemic have not been borne out so far. Highly contagious among birds, the virus has not proven to be easily transferrable between humans.
But the disease has nonetheless taken its toll on people, with most cases traced to direct contact with sick birds.
The latest victim was a 39-year-old woman who was sickened on March 1. She likely was infected by chickens at a neighbor's house, where 20 birds had died of avian influenza, Thai officials said.
She died Friday, becoming Thailand's eighth human fatality, but her death was not announced until yesterday. An additional 21 people are suspected to have been infected in Thailand.
China's declaration yesterday that it was now free of bird flu was the latest indication that the region might be returning toward normal, although international health officials have warned it could take years to completely stamp out the virus.
Chinese officials lifted quarantines in the last of two of its 16 regions affected by the disease.
All of the country's confirmed cases "have been stamped out," Agriculture Ministry spokesman Jia Youling told a news conference yesterday.
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