JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia, the country hardest hit by bird flu, recorded its 100th human death as the virus picked up speed across Asia.
Health officials, meanwhile, were bracing for more possible outbreaks during the upcoming Lunar New Year, when massive numbers of people and poultry are on the move.
Indonesia has recorded nearly one-half the 222 human deaths from bird flu detected worldwide since the virus began decimating poultry stocks in Asia in late 2003.
Its toll jumped to 100 after the H5N1 virus killed a nine-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman from the outskirts of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Joko Suyono of the National Bird Flu Centre said late Monday. Two other Indonesians in their 30s, who also tested positive, were being treated in the capital, he added.
Bird flu typically flares during the winter months and a number of countries have recently reported fresh outbreaks in poultry.
India has recorded its worst-ever outbreak and officials are scrambling to slaughter birds to try and stop the virus from spreading into Calcutta, where 14 million people live.
More than 1.6 million birds have been slaughtered since mid-January, state Animal Husbandry Minister Anisur Rahman said Sunday.
Skittish officials in neighbouring Bangladesh also ordered the halt of all egg and poultry imports from India.
China lifted a bird flu quarantine in Xinjiang province after 35,000 birds were slaughtered following a December outbreak, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Health officials in China and Vietnam have urged more strict controls to keep the virus from spreading during Lunar New Year festivities.
Bird flu remains hard for humans to catch but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with sick birds.
