The bird flu strain that experts fear could trigger a potentially lethal human pandemic was confirmed in birds in yet another country, Afghanistan, and the United Nations mission there and the Government have taken immediate steps to prevent further infection, including culling and market closures.

"Thus far in Afghanistan, avian influenza remains confined to the bird population, with no human cases reported," the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced in a joint press release with the Government. "Nonetheless, it is imperative that the human population is protected," it added.

The H5N1 virus was found in six samples taken from birds found in Kabul,
Jalalabad City and Khogiani district. A further six samples from Kandahar and Kunduz tested negative. All samples were tested at UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) laboratories in Padua, Italy.

The Government has appointed a National Action Committee to coordinate further activities to control the disease and is receiving expert advice from FAO, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) as well as from UNAMA.

At the moment H5N1 is rarely deadly to humans. As of 13 March there were only 177 confirmed human cases globally, 98 of them fatal, in the two-year-old outbreak, with almost all infections caused by very close contact with sick or dead birds.

But the great concern is that the virus could change into a type that spreads easily from person to person, hence the need for containment. The so-called Spanish flu pandemic that broke out in 1918 is estimated to have killed from 20 million to 40 million people worldwide by the time it had run its course two years later, stated the WHO release.

On 14 March Azerbaijan reported three more human cases, its first, all of them fatal, but these have yet to be confirmed by WHO.