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Viet Nam confirmed a new bird flu death to bring Asia's human toll to 30 Wednesday, while Thailand rued its flawed efforts to control the epidemic after reporting its first likely case of the virus jumping from one person to another.
The latest reported death was a 14-month-old in Hanoi, who became Viet Nam's 20th victim. The child was sickened with bird flu's typical symptoms of fever and coughing on August 28 and died September 5, a Vietnamese Health Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
That announcement came a day after Thailand raised concern among health experts by reporting its first case of probable human-to-human transmission of the virus -- a 26-year-old woman who became the country's 10th confirmed fatality.
"We have to fight a war to eliminate the bird flu," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told an emergency meeting of provincial governors.
Pranee Sodchuen died September 20 of bird flu, probably after catching the disease while taking care of her sickened daughter Sakuntala in a hospital. The 11-year-old died September 12.
The recent deaths in Viet Nam and Thailand are part of a second outbreak since the disease first swept through the poultry stocks of much of Asia at the start of this year, killing or forcing the culling of millions of birds.
New outbreaks of bird flu in recent months also have been reported in Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia. Pranee is the first person in Thailand believed to have contracted the disease from another human, rather than poultry. She had not come in contact with poultry and did not live with her daughter who was being raised in a village where chickens were bred.
Pranee's 32-year-old sister, who also had tended Sakuntala in hospital, was diagnosed with bird flu on Monday and is now in an isolation ward, along with her 6-year-old son. Both are listed in good condition.
Thailand cited flaws in dealing with the crisis. Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang told reporters the government has not done a good job of educating poultry breeders, especially small-operation farmers in rural areas.
(China Daily September 30, 2004)
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