Bird flu strikes first EU farm

FRANCE: The first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu to strike a European Union farm was confirmed as Indonesia's flu death toll hit the 20 mark and China said two of its citizens were in a critical condition after being infected with the virus.

Eight EU countries have so far confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, but until Saturday all these cases had been found in wild birds. The new French outbreak involves turkeys in a farm in the east of the country.

France had previously confirmed two cases of H5N1 bird flu, but both were in wild ducks found in the same area.

President Jacques Chirac publicly played down the development, munching on a piece of chicken that came from the area where the infected turkeys were found as he inaugurated an annual agricultural show in Paris.

"There is no interest in provoking a pyschosis, a panic, it's scandalous," he said. Experts fear that H5N1, which has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, may mutate into a form that can pass between humans, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.

The World Health Organisation has reported contamination by the deadly form of the virus in 13 new countries in February.

Sales of poultry from France, one of the world's top agricultural exporters, are already down 25-30 percent on the same period last year, with many firms in related industries announcing staff cuts.

Japan late Friday temporarily banned French poultry imports because of the bird flu outbreak.

Indonesia's human death toll from bird flu meanwhile hit the 20 mark on Saturday with confirmation that a 27-year-old woman had succumbed to the H5N1 virus.

The woman, a housewife who had direct contact with her neighbour's chickens, was admitted to a Jakarta hospital on Monday and died the same day, officials said.

In China, the health ministry said a nine-year-old girl and a 26-year-old woman from the east of the country were seriously ill in hospital after becoming infected with H5N1, state media reported, bringing the total number of human infections in China to 14, of whom eight have died.

PARIS, Sunday (AFP)