Vietnam flu death highlights WHO warning

GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov 8, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- On the heels of a World Health Organization warning that a bird flu pandemic is a certainty, Vietnam confirmed its 42nd human death Tuesday.

In Geneva, some 600 international animal and human health experts at the first major meeting on the H5N1 bird flu strain and pandemic human flu urged countries to draw up plans for improving early detection of disease, increasing the ability of hospitals to cope with sudden heavy traffic, and the stockpiling of drugs and vaccines.

"This virus is very treacherous," said Dr. Margaret Chan, representative of the WHO director-general for pandemic influenza.

Officials said a global pandemic could easily kill millions of people and cost the global economy more than $800 billion.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Health Ministry confirmed a 35-year-old man, who died on Oct. 29, was admitted to a Hanoi hospital four days after his family bought a prepared chicken from a market, the China Post reported.

At least 63 people in Asia have died from the H5N1 bird flu virus since 2003.

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