Bird flu returns in parts of Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – Bird flu has resurfaced in parts of Asia, with human deaths reported in Indonesia and China and fresh outbreaks plaguing other countries during the winter months when the virus typically flares.

Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by the H5N1 virus, announced its 93rd death on Friday. A 47-year-old man died a day earlier in a Jakarta hospital, said Health Ministry spokesman Joko Suyono. The man fell ill Dec. 2 and was admitted with flulike symptoms.

In China, the military in eastern Nanjing banned the sale of poultry this week after a father and son came down with the disease earlier this month. Health officials confirmed the 24-year-old man died from the virus a day before his father, 52, became sick. It was the country’s 17th bird flu death.

The two were believed to have eaten a traditional dish known as “beggar’s chicken,” in which the bird is wrapped in lotus leaves and baked. However, the cause of infection remained unclear.

Most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds; experts say that no human bird flu cases have been traced to eating properly cooked poultry or eggs.