Indonesia yesterday confirmed that bird flu has killed two more people, a day after China reported its first human cases, including at least one death -- both menacing signs that the virus is spreading faster as the winter flu months near.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in Jakarta said tests sent to a Hong Kong laboratory came back positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus for a 20-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl who died last week, WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi said. An Indonesian health official also confirmed the results.
The announcement comes a day after China's Health Ministry confirmed the virus killed a poultry worker and sickened a nine-year-old boy who later recovered in central Hunan Province, the official Xinhua news agency said. The boy's 12-year-old sister, who also died, was recorded as a suspected case. However, no samples were taken before she was cremated so she cannot be considered a confirmed case under the agency's guidelines.
The WHO yesterday ruled out human-to-human transmission in the Chinese cases, saying they were traced to contact with infected birds.
"If there would be something like that, we would expect more people would be unexpectedly dying of very severe pneumonia," said Henk Bekedam, WHO representative in China. "If there's evidence of human-to-human transmission, there will be small clusters. We are not at that stage."
An overseas Chinese-language Web site accused the government of hiding hundreds of other human cases, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao yesterday called those reports "groundless."
"The Chinese government has taken a very responsible attitude," he said. "It is not necessary for us to cover up."
China also raced to vaccinate billions of poultry as it racheted up a massive nationwide campaign to try to contain the virus in the world's most populous nation.
WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng in Geneva said the Chinese cases do not increase the risk of a flu pandemic because no major virus mutations have occurred and there's been no apparent spread between people.
Health experts worry that the virus will alter into a form easily passed from person to person, possibly igniting a global flu pandemic that kills millions. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.
Meanwhile, officials in Hong Kong said they will step up surveillance at its busy border with China. Temperature screening at two border checkpoints was set to begin within 48 hours, the Health Department said in a statement released late Wednesday. Authorities also said they will broadcast more health messages and distribute leaflets on bird flu at border crossings.
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