Dept on alert over bird flu death

NST KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is closely monitoring developments after a man died on Saturday of bird flu (Influenza A HN51 virus) in Shenzhen, China -- the country's first reported human case in 18 months.

Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said yesterday it was not yet known how the 39-year-old man contracted the disease. But he said the public need not worry as the death was considered an isolated case, with no reports of infection among 120 of the man's closest contacts so far.
"So far, no cases of human-to-human transmission (of bird flu) has been detected. The Chinese authorities have also taken steps to contain its spread."
He said the last case of bird flu in China among humans was reported in June 2010, involving a woman who had close contact with live poultry infected with the H5N1 virus.
He urged the public not to touch dead poultry without protective equipment and to report all unusual cases of poultry deaths to their nearest veterinary office.
He said as of Dec 15 last year, the World Health Organisation had recorded 57 cases (and 30 deaths) among humans in four countries, namely: Egypt (36 cases, 13 deaths), Cambodia (8 cases, 8 deaths), Indonesia (11 cases, 9 deaths) and Bangladesh (2 cases, no death).
He added that all 1,600 H5N1 tests on poultry samples nationwide throughout the past year had produced a negative result.