Bird flu claims rising toll among people

Indonesia said yesterday a 20-year-old woman had died of bird flu while several countries reported new suspected human cases of the deadly virus.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed more than 60 people in Asia and is endemic in most poultry flocks in the region.

It remains hard for humans to catch but scientists fear it will mutate into a form that passes easily among people. If it does so, millions could die as happened during three flu pandemics in the 20th century.

Japan set out plans yesterday to cope with any outbreak among humans, including declaring a state of emergency, shutting down schools and banning large gatherings.

The Health Ministry estimated that as many as a quarter of Japan's 127 million people could be infected and up to 640,000 could die if the country was gripped by a pandemic.

The disease has so far killed half the people it has infected. Governments are stockpiling anti-viral drugs that are believed to limit the effects of H5N1 if taken early enough.

Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG confirmed it was in talks with the World Health Organisation (WHO) about creating a reserve of its flu drug Tamiflu for poorer countries to be funded by contributions from developed nations. Roche defended the drug's safety record after media reports in Japan raised concerns over its possible side effects.

The company has reported the possible suicides of two teenage boys to authorities in Japan but said yesterday there was no clear evidence that Tamiflu had contributed to their deaths.

One teenager died after falling from the window of an apartment block in February while another was killed after walking in front of a truck in February 2004, David Reddy, Roche's head of pandemic sales of Tamiflu, told reporters.

In the case of the boy who fell, there was insufficient evidence to tell whether he had intended to kill himself, Mr Reddy said. The boy had been taking another drug, known to affect the central nervous system, before switching to Tamiflu.

"We do not see an imbalance in these types of neuro-psychiatric events for Tamiflu versus the background associated with influenza," he said. "We have not seen an increased rate (of abnormal behaviour)."

There are several other suspected human cases as governments in Asia struggle to control outbreaks in poultry to prevent more people from catching the virus.

Vietnam and China yesterday said they had had more suspected cases in people, while Thailand said a toddler confirmed infected with bird flu was recovering.