Thailand awaited test results on another suspected bird flu case yesterday after a resurgence of the killer virus in Asia, although Indonesian fears the H5N1 strain was mutating eased as tests on a father and son proved negative.
A day after lab analysis confirmed a 48-year-old man as Thailand's 13th victim, doctors said it was highly likely his sick seven-year-old son also had the virus, which has spread steadily from Asia to Europe in under two years.
Bird flu, which experts fear could mutate into a form that jumps easily from person to person and unleash a global pandemic, has killed over 60 people in four Asian countries during this period.
"There is a high possibility he [the victim] caught the bird flu virus because he had direct contact with the infected chicken," Disease Control Department chief Thawat Suntarajarn said.
"But the tests showed negative because he was given Tamiflu right away after he had symptoms," he said, referring to Roche's anti-flu drug which has been shown to reduce H5N1 symptoms.
Under pressure to increase worldwide production of Tamiflu, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant agreed on Thursday to meet four generic drug makers with a view to potential tie-ups.
The generic makers are Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Barr Pharmaceuticals, Mylan Laboratories, and Ranbaxy Laboratories.
Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, is considered the first line of defense against the H5N1 avian flu virus that experts fear could spark a deadly, worldwide outbreak in people.
Roche spokesman Terence Hurley confirmed the company would meet with the four generic producers "and any other company that wants to talk."
Roche said it would sublicense Tamiflu production to any company that can produce it in sufficient quantities, Schumer said.
Governments are rushing to stockpile the treatment. Forty countries have placed orders with Roche, and the company has been under pressure to allow others to produce Tamiflu so demand can be met quickly.
Some countries, such as Argentina, have said they will produce their own version of Tamiflu.
Hong Kong might seal off its busy border with China if bird flu starts spreading from human to human, Hong Kong's health secretary said yesterday.
Shutting down the border would deal a big blow to businesses and the economy because of the close ties Hong Kong has with Guangdong Province. Hong Kong companies employ about 11 million people in the region.
Hong Kong has been on high alert for possible disease outbreaks since SARS killed nearly 300 people here and battered the territory's economy about two years ago.
As China tries to contain a bird flu outbreak, Hong Kong health officials said that sealing off the border would be an option if the illness starts spreading among humans.
China, Hong Kong and Macau health officials signed an agreement yesterday to coordinate responses to outbreaks of infectious disease such as bird flu and SARS.
In related news, Australia said it was considering banning all live bird imports yesterday after three racing pigeons certified healthy by Canadian officials tested positive for avian flu antibodies.
Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran ordered an immediate ban on all Canadian bird imports and summoned Canada's ambassador to his office to explain what he called a unbelievably "shocking" quarantine failure from an advanced country.
Canadian officials denied the presence of the viral antibodies represented a systemic failure but nevertheless expressed regrets to Australian authorities.
In Jakarta, local tests on a hospitalized father and son proved negative for bird flu, a senior Health Ministry official said, calming fears prompted by the health minister that H5N1 might be spreading from human to human.
Reacting quickly to calm any panic, the WHO said such a scenario -- even if it had been true -- did not mean the virus was mutating into a form that jumps easily between people.
"It doesn't mean mutation," Georg Petersen, WHO's Indonesia representative, said.
All human deaths from avian flu have so far been in Asia but the deadly H5N1 strain was detected this month in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. Further tests are being carried out in Europe on a bird from Greece.
Even as it marches westwards, tracking the flight paths of migratory birds, the virus is flaring up again in east and southeast Asia, the most likely epicenter of a human pandemic, according to the WHO.
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