Woman dies from bird flu in Laos

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A 42-year-old woman has become the first person to die from avian influenza in Laos, officials have said.

Authorities said they were awaiting further tests to see if the woman was infected with the H5N1 strain.

The woman lived in a village near the capital, Vientiane, where the H5N1 virus has been found in poultry.

On Thursday, the country confirmed a 15-year-old girl, also from Vientiane province, had been infected with H5N1. She is being treated in Thailand.

World Health Organization spokeswoman Dida Connor told the AFP news agency that it was likely that the 42-year-old woman had the virus but that there was no link between the two cases.

The woman fell ill after developing severe pneumonia and a high temperature at the end of February.

Trigger fear

In a statement, the WHO said "the woman's exposure to sick poultry is unclear at this stage and investigations are ongoing."

Health officials in Laos said that the woman's family and relatives were being monitored closely but that none had so far shown any signs of infection.

Globally, some 160 people have died of bird flu since late 2003. Most have been in East Asia, with Indonesia registering more human deaths than any other country.

But the virus has also spread to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Millions of birds across the world have died or been culled because of the disease.

At the moment, the virus is essentially confined to birds and remains hard for people to catch.

But there is a fear that it could mutate to a form which is easily passed from human to human, triggering a pandemic and potentially putting millions of people's lives at risk.