Health officials in Asia are reporting that the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus is suspected in the deaths of two people.
Hong Kong officials say a 32-year-old man who frequently visited markets where chickens were slaughtered died Thursday in Guangzhou on mainland China after showing symptoms of bird flu.
In Indonesia, officials said Saturday that local tests show a three-year-old boy has died of the deadly H5N1 virus in Central Java province.
Officials in both countries have sent samples to a World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation that the pair had bird flu.
China has already had eight known deaths from the disease, while 20 people have died from H5N1 in Indonesia. More than 90 people have died from the disease worldwide.
– VOA News
