Bird flu link to Dutch vet death
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Dead turkeys which may have been infected are dumped at Barneveld.
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- A Dutch veterinarian has died of pneumonia after being infected with a bird flu virus, the Dutch Health Ministry said on Saturday.
A ministry statement said it was unclear whether the virus had undergone a mutation of the kind that was thought to have created the deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus.
"Because the bird flu virus was detected in the lungs and there is no other possible explanation for the clinical picture, there is a strong indication that the man died due to the consequences of the bird flu virus," the statement said.
The 57-year-old veterinarian, who died Thursday in the southern city of Den Bosch, became ill two days after working on a farm that had been infected with bird flu, or avian virus.
Bird flu has already infected a handful of farm workers, but until now it had only caused minor eye infections that were relatively harmless and easily treated.
Dutch authorities, however, have struggled to contain the month-long outbreak that has spilled into Belgium and is nearing the German border.
They imposed controls last week on the transport of pigs because of fears that a few animals found to be carrying the virus might create a devastating disease like SARS. The Dutch Agriculture Ministry said Thursday there was a danger that a mutated version of the virus could spark a flu epidemic in humans.
SARS, which has killed 182 people and infected nearly 3,500 around the world, is thought to have been the result of human and avian viruses mixing in Guangdong, China, where people live close to animals.
Dutch authorities have slaughtered around 15 million of the 100 million poultry in the country to fight the outbreak of bird flu. The Netherlands is the biggest poultry exporter in the European Union.
German authorities have ordered farmers to report any reduction in poultry flocks performance and banned pigeon racing.
But French, British, Portuguese and Spanish authorities were less concerned, despite worries that migrating wild birds could spread the disease. The chief form of transmission, however, is consumption of infected materials or feces.
