Bird flu kills 15-year-old girl in Laos

BANGKOK, Mar 8 (Reuters) A 15-year-old Lao girl has died from bird flu, the country's first confirmed death from the H5N1 virus, the Health Ministry said today as it stepped up surveillance and public awareness efforts.

''Knowledge can save lives,'' Health Minister Ponmek Dalaloy said in a statement after the girl's death in a hospital in neighbouring Thailand on Wednesday.

A 42-year-old Lao woman died of suspected bird flu last week, but tests have not yet confirmed the H5N1 virus.

The teenage girl had lived in a suburb of Vientiane, the capital, where the virus was found in poultry in January. But officials say the level of her exposure to infected poultry is still unclear.

It was the first poultry outbreak in seven months in the impoverished, landlocked country, most of whose 5.6 million people live in villages.

''The government is enforcing immediate and stringent interventions such as culling of all infected poultry, strengthening hospital surveillance and carrying out intensive information campaigns to educate people on key preventative measures,'' Ponmek said.

The virus has infected at least 275 people in 12 countries since 2003 and killed at least 167 of them in ten countries, the World Health Organisation says.

Public health experts fear it could mutate into a form that people catch easily from one another, possibly sparking a pandemic.

Reuters BDP DB1251