Japan holds bird flu drill for human case

TOKYO, Feb 5 (Reuters) Japan began a drill today to test its readiness for dealing with a human case of bird flu, with a limping mock patient -- wearing a white mask and labelled ''Mr A'' -- being whisked to hospital in an ambulance and tested.

The drill being held in Tokushima prefecture in southern Japan is based on a scenario in which a person develops symptoms of bird flu after returning from a country where the H5N1 virus has mutated into a form that passes easily from person to person.

Local residents given roles as the patient's family members and neighbours will also be checked as part of the drill, a spokesman for the prefectural office said.

The local governor will hold a video conference call with Heath Ministry officials in Tokyo to exchange information, and the prefecture will be called on to update the public on the case via the Internet.

The H5N1 virus has killed 165 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia, and more than 200 million birds have died from it, or been killed to prevent its spread.

Experts fear the virus could spark a pandemic if it develops into a form that is highly infectious among humans.

Japan has had four outbreaks of the H5N1 virus at poultry farms this year, although there have been no cases of human infection from the virus in the country.

Prior to this year, Japan suffered four outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu in 2004.

There are some chicken farms in Tokushima, but so far there have been no outbreaks of the disease there.

REUTERS AKJ VV0945