Bird flu has killed a 48-year-old man in Thailand, the country's first human death in a year, officials said Thursday, as the deadly H5N1 virus that has now hit Europe reared its head again in East and Southeast Asia.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told a news conference the victim had slaughtered and eaten an infected bird in Kanchanaburi province, which reported new outbreaks of avian influenza this week in birds around 100 kilometres west of the capital.

The latest death came as veterinary officials slaughtered poultry in a small village in central Russia Thursday as fears grew that the bird flu that has swept through parts of Siberia could reach Moscow.

Officials put Yandovka, a remote village about 350 kilometres south of the Russian capital, under quarantine after villagers reported the mass illness and deaths of their fowl.

The European Union said later Thursday that it was extending a ban on the import of pet birds and feathers to cover most of Russia.

EU spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen added that preliminary tests by its reference laboratory on a Greek island bird flu sample were negative for the H5 strain, but said more tests were needed.

Confirmation required

Thai health officials said several tests were needed before the man could be confirmed as the country's 13th official victim.

"The first lab results came out negative but we tested it several times and it confirmed it was positive," said Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general at the Department of Disease Control.

Most of the 60 human deaths reported so far have been linked to contact with sick birds, but experts say the virus could mutate at any time into a form that is more easily transmitted from person to person.

With H5N1 also discovered in Turkey and Romania, Europe is readying itself for a possible major outbreak.

Britain said it planned to buy enough vaccine to protect the entire population in the event of a pandemic, while Germany said it would confine all poultry to pens to prevent contact with wild migratory birds believed by some to carrying the virus from Asia.

Threat of spread to Africa

Sudan has taken a precautionary measure of halting all poultry imports, totalling 35 per cent of its consumption, to prevent the spread of bird flu after the UN food agency said the disease could move to East Africa, a senior official said Thursday.

"This is a precautionary measure and of course it will adversely effect the poultry industry in Sudan," said Ahmed Mustafa Hassan, under-secretary at the ministry of animal resources.

"Our poultry industry is not very well-developed so we rely heavily on imports," he said.

He said the risk was serious in Sudan as migratory birds from the north pass through the areas along the Nile, where most of Sudan's population lives.

The arrival of bird flu in Turkey and Romania suggests it is being carried by migratory birds, some of which pass through east Africa, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Source: China Daily