Avian flu appears in Poland

On March 5, Polish TVP3 confirmed the country's first case of bird flu after testing the H5N1 virus in a dead swan two days ago in Torun, northern Poland.

Meanwhile in Germany, the country that shares the border with Poland, the avian influenza virus spread to the sixth state, Lower Saxony, after a test showed a dead goose in the state last week was due to infection with H5N1 virus.

German soldiers search for wild birds on Ruegen Island in the Baltic Sea (Photo: AFP) Since a cat died of bird flu earlier this week at Ruegen Island in the Baltic Sea, the German government ordered dog owners. Cats in the affected area must not release them. Hundreds of cats were taken to animal farms for fear of being infected.

On March 4, an official in Azerbaijan said two children who died in the country last month may have been infected with bird flu, although it is too early to draw a formal conclusion. The houses of these two have chickens.

Also on March 4, Indonesian Ministry of Health spokesman said a 3-year-old boy living in central Indonesia died of bird flu. Analysis confirmed that the baby was infected with the H5N1 virus, but for official results, samples were transferred to the World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory in Hong Kong. If the results do not change, this will be the 21st person in Indonesia to die from bird flu.

In China, a 32-year-old man living in Guangzhou City (bordering Hong Kong) died on March 2 after nine days of fever and pneumonia.

Doctors fear that the man died of bird flu because he used to go to the chicken slaughter area at a local market. If the result is correct, this is the ninth case in China that died of bird flu.

Since early February, the H5N1 virus has spread to more than 15 countries and is now available in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

THANH TRUC (general)