Five people from bird flu site kept in isolation

Kuala Lumpur: Five people living near the site of a bird flu outbreak close to Kuala Lumpur are in hospital with flu-like symptoms, Malaysia's health minister said yesterday.

Chua Soi Lek said the five - from the village of Paya Jaras Hilir and aged between 11 months and 35 years - were in stable condition.

"They went to the hospital to get treatment and have been isolated because of the symptoms," Chua said in a statement.

He said they had been living within 300 metres of an area in the central state of Selangor, where the H5N1 bird flu was detected this week - the first case since March last year.

Seventeen villagers who reported mild fever had been placed under home surveillance, Chua said.

"So far, there's still no case of avian influenza infection among humans," Chua added.

Malaysia reported on Wednesday its first case of H5N1 bird flu in more than a year in what authorities called an isolated incident.

Chua also said culling of chickens within a one-kilometre radius of the outbreak, comprising four villages, which began on Thursday, would continue.

Meanwhile, the head of Indonesia's bird flu commission, Bayu Krisnamurthi, said the pandemic is claiming more than 80 per cent of its victims partly because people refuse to believe the virus poses a serious threat. "Often it's purely a case of ignorance," he said.