Materia Medica Malaysiana

Two Malaysians in hospital for bird flu checks

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Two Malaysians have been isolated in hospital after displaying symptoms of bird flu, which has killed 28 people elsewhere in Asia this year, a senior health official said on Tuesday.

A veterinary worker and a 10-year-old boy from a village at the centre of a second bird flu outbreak in Malaysia's north were hospitalised with cold symptoms, the official told Reuters.

Ramli Rahmat, director of the Health Ministry's disease control unit, said the isolation of the pair was a precautionary step after the latest discovery of infected poultry in Kelantan state.

"Both were in the affected area and had shown bird flu symptoms like fever and cough, so we have to isolate them," he said, adding that blood samples had been sent for tests.

Ramli said the boy was among more than 800 people screened during house-to-house surveillance conducted by the ministry in the area.

The Veterinary Services Department said on Monday 30 chickens and quails had died from the disease near an area where the virus was first detected in Malaysia last month.

Culling of some 1,200 chickens, ducks and birds within one km of the affected area began on Monday.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been blamed for the deaths of 28 people in Asia this year. Birds in the latest outbreak in Malaysia were also suspected to be infected with the same strain.

The World Health Organisation says the H5N1 strain has a unique capacity to jump from one species to another and cause serious illness, with high mortality, in humans.

A 14-month-old Vietnamese boy died from bird flu at the weekend, but it was unclear if he was infected by the H5N1 strain, a Health Ministry official said on Tuesday.

Malaysia remains free of any confirmed human infection from the virus. Seven people were hospitalised with cold symptoms during the first outbreak but they were cleared.