FACTBOX: Bird flu's spread around the globe
(Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the first case of human infection with H5N1 strain of avian influenza has been confirmed in Pakistan.
Earlier this month WHO also confirmed Myanmar's first human case of bird flu in a seven year-old girl in Shan state. She survived. However the 25-year-old man from Peshawar in Pakistan died on November 28.
The outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza began in Asia in 2003. Following are some facts about the H5N1 avian flu virus and its spread around the globe.
* Since the virus re-emerged in Asia in 2003, outbreaks have been confirmed in around 60 countries and territories, according to data from the World Organization for Animal Health.
* The virus has killed 212 people since 2003, according to the WHO. Countries with confirmed human deaths are: Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Pakistan Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. Both Djibouti and Myanmar also have had human cases although no deaths.
* In total, the virus is known to have infected 343 people since 2003, according to the WHO. Many of the dead are children and young adults.
* The WHO says Vietnam and Indonesia have the highest number of cases, accounting for 140 of the total deaths.
* The H5N1 virus is not new to science and was responsible for an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Scotland in 1959. Britain confirmed new cases in birds in Scotland in April 2006 and in southeast England in February 2007.
* H5N1 is not the only bird flu virus. There are numerous strains. For example, an outbreak in 2003 of the H7N7 bird flu virus in the Netherlands led to the destruction of more than 30 million birds, around a third of the country's poultry stock. About 2.7 million were destroyed in Belgium and around 400,000 in Germany. In the Netherlands, 89 people were infected with the H7N7 virus, of whom one (a veterinarian) died.
* The H5N1 virus made the first known jump into humans in Hong Kong in 1997, infecting 18 people and killing six of them. The government ordered the immediate culling of the territory's entire poultry flock, ending the outbreak.
* Symptoms of bird flu in humans have ranged from typical influenza-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, to eye inflammations (conjunctivitis), pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.
(Sources: OIE, WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
