Bird flu spreads, India says has suspected death

 

MUMBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - India said on Sunday a poultry farm owner is the country's first suspected death from bird flu, while France confirmed its first cases of the H5N1 virus as the disease spread further around the globe.

Avian influenza has flared anew in recent weeks, spreading quickly among birds in Europe and parts of Africa, prompting authorities to impose bans on poultry trade, mass culling in infected areas and vaccinations of poultry flocks.

 

Iraq, too, is on alert after two people died of bird flu there and fears grow that the virus might mutate just enough to allow it to pass easily between people, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.

 

India, the world's second most populous nation and a major poultry producer, has begun a major campaign to stop bird flu spreading in birds and people after 50,000 poultry died in recent days in the western state of Maharashtra.

A senior official said the suspected case, a 27-year-old poultry farm owner, died on Friday.

"Local tests have confirmed bird flu but we have sent samples to the national laboratory. A final report is awaited," Vatsala Vasudev, the top district administrator of Surat in western Gujarat state, told Reuters.

 

Adding to the sense of crisis in India, blood samples of eight people have also been sent for testing. Four other people, including three children, were under observation. It was unclear if the farm owner was among the eight being tested.

"We sent blood samples of these people who are associated with poultry because they had cold and cough," Vijay Satbir Singh, Maharashtra's top health official, told Reuters.