Sudan latest bird flu victim

According to the Health Ministry in Sudan a farmer and five of his chickens are the latest victims of bird flu and the first to be reported in the country to date.

Magdi Salih, the head of the epidemics department, has said tests carried out by Sudanese authorities on the man and the poultry had proved positive for bird flu, but has not confirmed if the virus was the lethal H5N1 strain.

The man, the owner of one of the farms, is apparently now in hospital in Khartoum.

The infected chickens were found at two farms in Sudan's Khartoum and Jazeera provinces.

Sudanese officials say some 100,000 chickens have been culled since the discovery and samples sent abroad for further testing.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Egypt four deaths from the virus have been confirmed.

In an attempt to stop the spread of bird flu Egyptian workers have been disinfecting houses.

Since 2003 more than 100 people have died from the H5N1 strain of the virus, the majority in Asia.

The disease remains a predominately bird disease and has affected poultry, wild birds and some other animals in many countries.

The ever present fear is that the virus will acquire the ability to mutate into a form that passes easily between humans, triggering a global pandemic.