14 DAY TRIAL // The Chinese officials confirmed today the first human casualty of the three cases of bird flu.
Due to the vast poultry flocks, the experts are worried that the bird flu might spread and mutate throughout China.
The Health Ministry confirmed cases in a poultry worker who died and a 9-year-old boy who fell ill but recovered, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said the boy's 12-year-old sister, who died, was recorded as a suspected case.
Asian countries are scrambling to halt the spread of bird flu, with mass culling of birds and vaccination of poultry. On Tuesday, China announced plans to vaccinate billions of birds.
European Union veterinary experts on Wednesday extended a ban on imports of captive live birds for a further two months, to guard against the spread of bird flu, Reuters noted.
As of July 2005, most human cases of avian influenza in East Asia have been attributed to consumption of diseased poultry. Person-to-person transmission has not been unequivocally confirmed in the outbreaks in East Asia.
On September 29, 2005, David Nabarro, the newly appointed Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, warned the world that an outbreak of Avian influenza could kill 5 to 150 million people.