Fears Of World Flu Epidemic

8:45pm UK, Thursday February 20, 2003

A deadly mutant flu virus with no cure could grip the world, health experts fear.

New vaccine needed

Scientists are anxiously awaiting the result of tests that could prove the existence of the new strain of bird flu after an eight-year-old girl and her father died in Hong Kong.

The girl's brother, aged nine, is seriously ill in hospital with the flu, which originates from birds.

A third person has also died and his death has been confirmed a result of the bird flu.

The virus is normally transferred from birds to human beings but scientists are worried it could now be passing from person to person - with potentially devastating consequences.

Massive culls

Professor John Oxford, an influenza expert, told Sky News he was "worried but not alarmed" at this stage.

The Hong Kong family became ill after visiting relatives in China's Fujian province who keep chickens.

Tests are now being carried out on the bodies of the father and daughter to see if they had contracted bird flu.

Five years ago, the world was put on high alert when six people in Hong Kong were killed by bird flu. Nearly a million chickens were slaughtered in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

Outbreak

But Hong Kong officials have said the sick boy has a different strain of the virus to the one which infected people in 1997.

If it spreads, it will be the fourth major flu outbreak in the province in the past five years. Each one has led to massive bird culls.

Authorities are urging the 6.8 million people living in the region to stay calm, but added that they should take precautions such as washing their hands after handling birds.

Hong Kong imports 80,000 chickens from China every day.