WHO confirms first human bird flu death in Nigeria

GENEVA, Feb 4 (Reuters) The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed that bird flu killed a 22-year-old Nigerian woman, making her the first known human fatality of the H5N1 virus in sub-Saharan Africa.

''The WHO's collaborating centre has confirmed that it is H5N1,'' said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the United Nations' health agency, yesterday.

Tests carried out at a laboratory in London confirmed the findings of Nigerian health authorities, who announced on Wednesday that the woman had died after catching the virus from infected chicken.

The WHO seeks confirmation of preliminary testing from one of its network of laboratories.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was the first on the continent to detect the H5N1 virus in poultry.

The virus has spread to 17 of Nigeria's 36 states over the past year despite measures such as culling, quarantine and bans on transporting live poultry.

In Africa, 11 people have died in Egypt from bird flu since 2003 and there has been a single non-fatal human case in Djibouti, in the eastern Horn.

Worldwide, there have been 271 confirmed bird flu cases with 165 deaths since 2003, according to the WHO.

Experts fear the virus could spark a deadly pandemic if it mutates into a form that passes easily from person to person.

Samples tested from contacts of the woman, who died on January 16, were negative for the virus, the WHO said in a statement posted on its website (www.who.int).

Sporadic cases of human infection were not unexpected in a country where outbreaks in poultry had been detected, it added.

REUTERS SBA BST0440