WHO Worries about Contagious Bird Flu

The spread of bird flu to Laos and the report of another bird flu victim in Thailand has agitated the world.

Analysts also say that the bird flu virus may mutate to allow it become contagious between humans.

On January 27, the chief of the Laos Livestock Bureau said that as a result of inspecting the remains of dead chickens, the bird flu virus had been analyzed out.

This brings the number of countries that have reported cases of bird flu up to nine, including Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Puta Chinarachi Hospital in Thailand has reported that another patient infected with the bird flu has died, bringing the death toll up to seven. The total number of bird flu victims has increased to 13, including six Vietnamese victims.

“In cases when the bird flu virus penetrates into the bodies of patients who are infected with the influenza in advance, there is a chance of the virus mutating into a brand new virus which can become contagious between humans, and which can create apprehensions,” said the secretary general of the World Health Organization, Lee Jong-wook, in an interview with Yeonhap News.

He also added, “In contrast to SARS, which is transmitted by close body contact only, bird flu can be spread by migratory birds in large sectors, arousing people’s attention.”

As the damage caused by bird flu increases, many countries around the world are busy preparing countermeasures.

Russia placed a ban on poultry imports from countries confirmed to have been hit with the bird flu, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Taiwan, on January 26. Russia has already embargoed poultry imports from Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Singapore has prohibited people from visiting poultry farms and slaughterhouses, and has inoculated employees working in the poultry industry with vaccines in order to prevent the bird flu from occurring in that country.

The British foreign ministry has warned their citizens who are traveling in stricken countries not to visit poultry farms and slaughterhouses.

Concerning another outbreak of bird flu in Korea, Chungnam province has decided to slaughter 214,000 chickens raised within a 500-meter diameter from the farm where the bird flu was reported again. The Ministry of Agriculture has also planned to increase its amount of poultry purchases from 2.5 million to 10 million for chickens and from 0.4 million to 1.1 million for ducks in order to support poultry farms that are suffering from the decline in poultry consumption.