http://channels.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?id=2005111207257000000001&dt=20051112072500&w=AFP&coview=
© Copyright Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.
11/12/2005 07:25 AFP
"In Thailand, authorities Saturday rushed to investigate the home of an
18-month-old boy who was diagnosed with bird flu, in the first case of the
disease found in the capital Bangkok.
The house where the boy contracted the virus had two chickens and one
fighting cock, which died on October 31 but were only reported to
authorities after the boy fell sick, officials said.
The public health ministry said the boy fell ill on November 1 and went to
hospital on November 3 with a runny nose, fever and coughing.
The boy's 65-year-old grandmother has also shown symptoms of the disease,
but so far has tested negative. Doctors were awaiting the results of further
tests, expected by Sunday.
The boy is the 21st case of bird flu diagnosed in Thailand since the H5N1
virus was first detected in the country in January 2004. Thirteen of those
cases have been fatal.
The events in China and Thailand helped shape the agenda as officials
gathered for annual meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum in the South Korean city of Busan.
An official involved in Saturday's talks said discussions would focus on how
APEC countries would respond to a pandemic and plans for an APEC-wide mock
exercise simulating a human-to-human outbreak.
At the other end of the Asian continent, the Gulf region was reeling from
its first discovery of bird flu.
One of two birds discovered in the Gulf state of Kuwait that were stricken
with avian flu carried the deadly H5N1 strain, an agriculture official said
Friday.
He said a second bird, a falcon found at Kuwait airport that had been
brought in from an Asian nation, was found to have the milder H5N2 strain.
Scientists fear that the H5N1 strain, which has killed more than 60 people
in Asia since late 2003, could mutate and combine with human flu variants,
possibly creating a global pandemic.
At present, H5N1's lethal stretch to humans is limited. It is picked up by
people who are in close proximity to infected birds, breathing in
virus-laden nasal secretions or pulverized feces."