Couple Isolated At Toronto Hospital Over Bird Flu Fears

Monday, February 25, 2008

Bird flu hits another Bangladesh district

DHAKA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Bangladesh, struggling to combat avian influenza, confirmed on Monday the H5N1 virus had spread to another district, taking the number of affected districts to 45 out of 64.

The new outbreak was found in Chandpur, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the capital, but livestock officials said the spread of bird flu had slowed across the country in recent weeks.

“At the advent of spring we are getting few reports about poultry dying,” said Ibrahim (one name), project director of the government’s livestock department. “The situation is now mostly under control.”

Nearly 970,000 birds have been culled since the virus was first detected in March 2007, threatening the impoverished country’s growing poultry industry.

At least 5 million of the country’s more than 140 million people are directly or indirectly involved in poultry farming, of whom officials estimate around 1.5 million have now become jobless.

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A Toronto hospital says there's no reason to believe any of its patients have bird flu amid media speculation that a couple who returned from Bangladesh were potential carriers of a deadly strain of the virus.

Toronto East General Hospital said in a statement that it has recently treated an increased number of patients with flu-like symptoms, but that there's nothing to suggest any of them have H5N1 avian flu.

The statement was responding to local media reports that said a couple who recently returned from Bangladesh were admitted to the hospital late Tuesday with flu symptoms and were being tested for possible bird flu infection.

Bangladesh has been grappling with an outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain among animals, but there have been no human cases reported in the country.

The hospital said it was concerned about "inaccurate media speculation and reporting regarding human cases of avian flu."

Hospital spokeswoman Laura Visser says while she can't comment on specific cases the hospital was awaiting lab results, as it does for any patient with flu-like symptoms.

When asked about the media reports, Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman said there was "no confirmation of any cases, just speculation."