Bird Flu: Mum May Have Caught Virus From Human

FEARS of a pandemic rose yesterday after a young mother killed by the virus was thought to have caught it from another human.

Medics believe the woman, who was in her 20s, might have become infected as she nursed her dying 11 year-old daughter in a hospital in Thailand. An aunt also has the disease. It had previously been thoughtthat the illness could only be caught from sick birds but boffins have been watching for any hint that the virus might spread from person to person. Meanwhile, samples of Romanian bird flu tested in Britain have been found to contain a deadly version of the virus, it was confirmed yesterday. The diseased birds – a duck and a chicken found in a flock in the Danube delta – were contaminated with H5N1, which can kill humans.

Tests were continuing today at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey to see how similar it is to the viruses found in Turkey and Asia.

All imports of poultry meat, eggs and feathers from Romania and Turkey have already been banned