The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu will take several years to contain, the World Health Organization warned yesterday, adding that claims in China that the virus was found in pigs is a worrying new development.
The H5N1 virus has killed 27 people in Asia. A recent outbreak of bird flu in Malaysia -- the first case in this Southeast Asian country -- and flare-ups in Thailand and Vietnam, plus recent claims by Chinese researchers that pigs have the virus indicate that the disease may be entrenched and adapting in parts of Asia.
The discovery in pigs, which are genetically similar to humans, intensifies fears that it could mutate into a version that could lead to human-to-human infections. However, it remains unclear whether the pigs were actually infected with H5N1 or simply had traces on their snouts from snuffling around chicken runs.
Pigs could conceivably become a new host for the virus to mutate, said Shigeru Omi, WHO director for the Western Pacific.
"We don't know how wide this virus is spreading among pigs. Is it only several pigs or many pigs?" Omi told a news conference. "This is a new finding, which we are following up very carefully, but it does not mean that it will immediately cause a pandemic."
Omi said the disease will keep popping up because it "is circulating more widely than we expected among poultry."
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
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‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
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