BANGKOK (Reuters) - A 48-year-old Thai man has become the 67th person known to have been killed by a bird flu virus that has been moving steadily from Asia into Europe since re-emerging in South Korea in 2003, officials said on Thursday Concern about the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu centres on scientists' fears that it may mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic that may kill millions. Possible clusters of bird flu among members of one family in Indonesia have raised concern among health experts that this feared mutation may already be happening. "With the increase of clusters, the possibility has to be thoroughly examined that the virus might have changed and could possibly spread from human to human," Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari was quoted as saying by the state news agency. A father and son are being treated at a Jakarta hospital for symptoms of the virus but the diagnosis has not been confirmed. All the human deaths from avian flu have so far been in Asia but the H5N1 strain, carried by migrating birds, was detected this month in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. Further tests are being carried out in Europe on a bird from Greece. In Brussels, the European Union adopted fresh measures to fight the virus, banning live birds from markets or exhibitions without permission and urging states to keep wild flocks away from poultry feed. The European Commission said in a statement a committee of EU veterinary experts had agreed on the measures, which included vaccinating birds in zoos and extending a ban on bird and feather imports to cover much of Russia. EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said member states had drawn up plans to deal with a possible pandemic and arrange stockpiles or orders for antiviral drugs, but said the risk to the general public was low. "The appearance of flu in birds in Europe does not increase the risk of a pandemic," he told a news conference after an informal meeting of EU health ministers near London. France and Italy tried to reassure consumers it was safe to eat poultry because imports from affected areas were banned. NO DANGER "There is absolutely no danger from eating poultry products in France," France's Farm Ministry said in a statement. "The Asian (bird flu) virus is not present in France." "Our country is self-sufficient -- it produces more than it consumes and it does not import from areas hit by the virus," said Aldo Muraro, head of the Italian poultry producers union. Germany has ordered poultry to be kept in pens and Poland has said domestic fowl must be kept indoors to prevent contact with migrating birds. In Ottawa, Canada's chief public health officer said the world was both better and worse equipped to cope with a pandemic now than it was for the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed some 50 million people worldwide. "The challenges lie in the rapidity of travel and ability of diseases to move quickly around the world," David Butler-Jones said. Kyprianou said the World Health Organization (WHO) was preparing stockpiles of the antiviral drug Tamiflu -- the first line of defense against a pandemic until a vaccine is developed -- for rapid deployment to wherever a pandemic may emerge. The EU is also sponsoring research into a vaccine and is holding talks with drugs firms to ensure adequate supplies of antiviral drugs and the ability to step up vaccine production. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the latest human death was in Kanchanaburi province, which reported new outbreaks of avian influenza this week. "The guy was infected with bird flu because he took a sick chicken, slaughtered it and then ate it," Thaksin said. Contact with infected chickens or ducks is a known way of transmission. Bang-on Benpad was the first Thai killed by the disease in a year, and the first human fatality since an Indonesian woman died last month. The virus has killed at least 44 people in Vietnam, 13 in Thailand, six in Indonesia and four Cambodians. In Africa, Sudan and Tanzania joined Kenya and Comoros in banning some or all poultry imports. But experts say migrating birds could bring bird flu to East Africa's Rift Valley lakes, where the rural poor are already hit by AIDS and malaria. While countries in Europe and Africa struggle to keep the disease out, Asian nations battled new outbreaks. Vietnam reported its first outbreak in poultry since July, and in China, where there have been no human cases, the Foreign Ministry confirmed H5N1 in 2,600 birds at a poultry farm in Inner Mongolia, but said the outbreak had been wiped out. Taiwan said it had found infected birds in a container of rare birds smuggled from China, the island's first case since late 2003. (Additional reporting by bureaux in Beijing, Belgrade, Brussels, Dar Es Salaam, Hanoi, Jakarta, Khartoum, London, Ottawa, Paris, Rome and Taipei) Its coming! the bird flu!! http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/birdflu_...hSTvyIi;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
