The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday the bird flu virus that has killed seven people in Vietnam since December might already be in neighbouring countries. "These other countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar do not have the infrastructure or capacity at this stage to do the kind of surveillance that is necessary," Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the Western Pacific region, told Reuters on Friday. "There may have been human cases that weren't spotted and reported," he said by telephone from Manila. Asked about China, he said: "The Chinese government is taking this very seriously and has put a lot of measures in place only time will tell us if it's been enough." Vietnamese state media reported on Friday that a 47-year-old man had died of the H5N1 virus, bringing to seven the number of Vietnamese killed in the latest wave of outbreaks which have spread the virus across much of the country. The death of Nguyen Huu Viet from the virus which has also infected his younger brother has raised concerns about possible human-to-human transmission of the disease. --SP 1124 Local Time 0824 GMT
