France says three bird flu suspects in Reunion

SAINT-DENIS-DE-LA-RIUNION, France - France's Indian Ocean island of La Reunion now has three suspected cases of bird flu among tourists recently returned from Thailand, the French health minister has said.


Authorities on the island said earlier they suspected one case of the H5N1 virus in a tourist who had just returned from a holiday in Thailand. They had also tested two others who had travelled with him and were showing flu symptoms.


"Today, we have three suspected cases of bird flu in the island of Reunion," Xavier Bertrand told journalists as he left a meeting in Paris.


"These three people who all travelled to Thailand have visited a bird zoo where they had come into contact with birds. Initial tests have been done there and these came out positive," he said, adding samples had been sent to Paris and initial results from the first case would be available tomorrow.


"For the moment, these are only suspected bird flu cases. Nothing is confirmed," he added.


Authorities in Reunion said two tests on the first patient, a 43-year-old man, for the H5N1 avian influenza had shown different results -- one had been uncertain, the other positive.


The man was admitted on Saturday to the Bellepierre hospital in Saint-Denis-de-la-Reunion, showing signs of weakness and severe headaches. The virus tests were carried out after he developed a cough on Monday.


The man spent a week in Thailand from October 12 as one of a group of 20 tourists.


Bertrand said the medical authorities on the island judged the three patients to be in a satisfactory condition and that they were undergoing antiviral treatment.


He cautioned against any "dramatisation" of the situation, saying it was under control of the health authorities.


"You have to put things in their proper place. What we are talking about today in Europe, is about the risk of a disease, of a virus that affects animals," he said.


- REUTERS