A 48-year-old Thai man has become the 67th person known to have been killed by a bird flu virus that has been moving steadily from Asia into Europe since re-emerging in South Korea in 2003, officials said on Thursday according to Reuters. Concern about the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu centres on scientists' fears that it may mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic that may kill millions. Possible clusters of bird flu among members of one family in Indonesia have raised concern among health experts that this feared mutation may already be happening. "With the increase of clusters the possibility has to be thoroughly examined that the virus might have changed and could possibly spread from human to human," Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari was quoted as saying by the state news agency. A father and son are being treated at a Jakarta hospital for symptoms of the virus but the diagnosis has not been confirmed. All the human deaths from avian flu have so far been in Asia but the H5N1 strain, carried by migrating birds, was detected this month in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. --more 2236 Local Time 1936 GMT
