Magdi Salih, the head of the epidemics department, announced that on Tuesday tests carried out by Sudanese authorities on a man and chickens had proved positive for bird flu, but the announcement did not state if the virus was the deadly H5N1 strain.
The infected chickens were found at two farms in Sudan's Khartoum and Jazeera provinces, one of which belonged to the infected man. Salih said, that the samples would be sent abroad for further tests. Meanwhile the WHO authorities also stated that hey were looking into the outbreak. The spokeswoman for WHO, Maria Cheng said that as there is not many details as to what tests were conducted they are planning to have the samples sent abroad for further tests.Meanwhile, the WHO also announced that China reported its 17th human case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu since November. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a spokeswoman for the WHO's Beijing office, reported that the affected person is a 21-year-old security guard from the central city of Wuhan. She explained that the man became sick on April 1 and was hospitalised in critical condition with a high fever, he was then confirmed on Tuesday to have the virus, but the source of his exposure is still under investigation, she said.
According to the most recent WHO figures the bird flu has killed at least 109 people in nine countries, the virus though still remains essentially an animal disease, there are fears it could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.
