Ramadoss discusses possible avian flu outbreak with S. Korean scientists

Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday discussed measures to tackle a possible avian flu pandemic with top South Korean scientists, in the wake of a World Health Organisation (WHO) alert on the spread of the deadly virus in the South Asian region. During talks at Seoul’s International Vaccine Institute, Ramadoss, who is on a four-day visit to South Korea, also discussed alternative drugs to control the disease and the development of a vaccine to prevent it.

Meanwhile, a 48-year-old Thai man became the 67th person known to have been killed by the virus that has been moving steadily from Asia into Europe, officials said on Thursday. Concern about the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu centres on scientists’ fears that it may mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic that may kill millions.

All the human deaths from avian flu have so far been in Asia but the H5N1 strain, carried by migrating birds, was detected this month in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. In Brussels, the European Union said more tests on samples from dead birds were needed to determine whether Greece had become the first EU country to be hit by the virus.