Laos fears bird flu spreading south from capital

BANGKOK, Mar 9 (Reuters) The deadly bird flu virus is spreading into southern provinces of impoverished, landlocked Laos after outbreaks near Vientiane, a government spokesman today said.

Officials planned to cull up to 200,000 fowl to stamp out confirmed and suspected outbreaks in the southern provinces of Savannakhet and Champasak and stop the H5N1 virus in and around the capital, Yong Chanhthalansy told Reuters.

''Although tests have not confirmed that they have died of H5N1, our policy now is just kill them all,'' Yong said by telephone from Vientiane, referring to the suspected cases in Savannakhet.

The campaign comes a day after Lao health officials confirmed the country's first death from H5N1, a 15-year-old girl who died 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, Yong said.

The teenage girl had lived in a suburb of Vientiane where the virus was found in poultry in January, the country's first outbreak in seven months.

Yong said H5N1 hit villages a week ago in Champasak, which borders Thailand and Cambodia.

Tests were also being conducted on chickens which died in Savannakhet, which is sandwiched between Vietnam and Thailand.

Yong said the virus may be spreading due to illegal trade in fowl despite a ban on poultry imports.

The virus has infected at least 275 people in 12 countries since 2003 and killed at least 167 of them in 10 countries, the World Health Organisation says.

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

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