Thai boy beats bird flu

A Thai boy tested positive for bird flu yesterday, but doctors said he was recovering and there was no sign he caught the virus from his infected father who died earlier this week, calming fears of a human pandemic.

Ronarit Benpad, seven, who was treated with anti-flu drug Tamiflu in the early stages of his infection, had recovered his appetite and his temperature had returned to normal, although he would remain under observation for two weeks, doctors said.

"There is no evidence to prove the boy became infected from his father," Prasit Watanapa, director of Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, told reporters. "This boy had direct contact in the infected area."

Ronarit's father became Thailand's 13th official bird flu victim when he died on Wednesday in a resurgence of the virus in east and Southeast Asia which has fanned fears of the H5N1 strain mutating into a form that jumps from person to person.

Since breaking out in late 2003 in South Korea, H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries and reached as far west as European Russia, Turkey and Romania, tracking the paths of migratory birds.

Romania said yesterday it had detected a new suspected case close to its eastern border with Moldova as governments in Europe and Africa move to halt the spread of the virus.

The World Health Organisation sought to ease fears by saying the risk to humans in Europe remains "very low".

"The crisis... may seem more intense now because birds in Europe have become infected," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told reporters in Geneva.

"But the risk is pretty much the same as it has been, it is very low to humans, but we're worried about the transformation of the virus into a human pandemic strain," he added.

In Indonesia, fears fanned by the health minister about a possible human-to-human transmission eased after tests on a father and son hospitalised in Jakarta proved negative.

In its current form, humans need to be in prolonged close contact with an infected animal, usually in a confined space, to catch the disease.

Amid growing fears about the spread of the virus, Tamiflu's maker, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche AG, has come under pressure to pump up output by any means possible. The company agreed on Thursday to meet four generic drug makers with a view to possible tie-ups.

Activists who put pressure on drugs companies to make AIDS treatments accessible in Africa urged Roche to renounce its rights on the drug in the developing world.

"Africa cannot afford to wait until Roche is done 'talking': Act-Up Paris and African Essential Drug Network demand that Roche... renounce all its exclusive rights on Tamiflu in developing countries," the groups said in a joint statement.