How bird flu spread from Asia to Europe
How bird flu spread from Asia to Europe
Agence France-Presse, Paris
The discovery of avian influenza in Greece has put the European
Union on red alert, with scientists concerned that it could be
due to the deadly Asian strain, H5N1, which has killed more than
60 people over the past two years.
They fear that the strain could combine with human flu
variants to create a catastrophic pandemic, or mass epidemic,
across Europe.
Meanwhile, a bird thought to have died of the disease in the
former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia was to be flown to Britain
for further testing, health authorities said on Tuesday, amid
fears that H5N1 had spread from nearby Turkey and Romania.
The following is a timeline of how bird flu took hold in Asia
before emerging in Europe:
* May 1997: a three-year-old boy becomes the first of six people
to die in Hong Kong of a mysterious virus, later identified as
H5N1, the first known human deaths from the strain.
* Dec. 2003: South Korea confirms an outbreak of the virus and
slaughters more than 2.5 million chickens and ducks in a bid to
halt the outbreak. A different strain, H7N7, is said to be
responsible for the death of a veterinarian in the Netherlands,
who visited an infected farm.
* Jan. 2004: Vietnam says the suspected number of human deaths
has risen to 13 as Taiwan announces an outbreak of different
strain of bird flu. Outbreaks are reported in Laos, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Japan, China, Pakistan and Thailand.
* Feb. 2004: first cases confirmed in the United States and
Canada while in Thailand the virus is detected in a panther, a
tiger and domestic cats.
* Aug. 2004: Three new deaths confirmed in Vietnam and an
outbreak reported in Malaysia.
* Jan. 2005: First fatal human case reported in Cambodia. Three
more will follow.
* March 2005: North Korea officially announces it is affected by
the disease.
* July 2005: First of three fatalities announced in Indonesia.
* Aug. 2005: Confirmation that the disease has spread to
Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the vast Russian region of Siberia.
* Oct. 7, 2005: Ducks in the Danube delta in Romania are reported
to be infected. The virus is confirmed as H5N1 eight days later.
* Oct. 13, 2005: The infection which has killed thousands of
turkeys in north-western Turkey is confirmed as H5N1.
* Oct. 17: Discovery of the first case in Greece, on the island
of Oinousses, close to the Turkish coast.