Man dies from HN51 bird flu virus in Pakistan

Islamabad: Experts are trying to determine whether the bird flu virus had been passed from human to human after Pakistan's first death from the disease.

Pakistani officials had confirmed at the weekend that eight people tested positive last month for the HN51 strain of the virus in the north west of the country.

One man, who worked on a poultry farm, has died.

The brother of the dead man has also passed away, although it is not yet clear whether he had bird flu.

However, health Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari said some of the seven affected people had not worked with poultry.

Ministry of Health spokesman Orya Maqbool Jan Abbasi said: "No linkage has been developed about human-to-human transmission. We are safe but we have to be very cautious.

A three-member WHO team has traveled to the region to investigate the death.