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Bird flu triggers `storm'

Scientists in Hong Kong say they may have helped explain why the H5N1 bird flu virus kills so many healthy young adults -- it apparently causes a "storm" of immune system chemicals that overwhelms the patient.

The H5N1 virus caused proteins known as cytokines to rush to infected lung tissue -- evidence of a so-called cytokine storm, an immune system overreaction that can be fatal.

The study, published in the online medical journal Respiratory Research, suggests that if H5N1 does cause a pandemic, it could disproportionately affect the young and healthy as compared with seasonal flu, which kills many elderly people but few young adults.

It also raises questions about how effective drugs will be in controlling such a pandemic, experts said.

CAUTION

"We have to see if it is true and if we can do anything about it," cautioned Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was not involved in the research.

But if the experiment does accurately show what happens in people, it may mean patients with H5N1 infections will need drugs that depress the immune response in addition to antivirals, Fauci said.

The H5N1 flu has swept through flocks of poultry but has so far infected only 124 people in four countries and killed 64 since it re-emerged in 2003.

It does not easily infect people, but when it does, it kills about half of them.

"The reasons for this unusual severity of human disease have remained unclear," Michael Chan and Malik Peiris of the University of Hong Kong and colleagues wrote in their report.

OUTBREAKS

Meanwhile, China yesterday reported its fourth bird flu outbreak in chickens in the same province in two weeks, while Vietnam -- which has suffered two-thirds of Asia's human deaths from the virus -- ordered its military and police to help fight the disease.

North Korea issued a bird flu alert, telling its public to unite against the disease and restricting access to chicken farms in an effort to prevent outbreaks in the isolated Stalinist dictatorship.

Kuwait found the Middle East's first case in an imported peacock and a wild flamingo but wasn't sure it was the deadly H5N1 strain.

The latest Chinese outbreak was reported in Liaoning, where officials have warned that counterfeit vaccines sold in the province might be adding to the public health threat. Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) visited Liaoning this week and warned that the disease wasn't under control.

In Vietnam, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai called on the army and police to help with anti-flu work as new outbreaks were reported despite mounting efforts to contain the virus, state media reported yesterday.

In North Korea, the government issued an "emergency alert" on Thursday restricting access to chicken farms and ordering disinfection of vehicles carrying feed.
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