Hong Kong - Two toddlers are the latest victims in Hong Kong confirmed to have contracted the deadly "bird flu", which has killed at least three people in the territory, health officials said yesterday. Eleven people are now confirmed to have been infected with the flu bug, including the three who died. A one-year-old boy, previously suspected of having the virus, and a three-year-old girl were the latest to be diagnosed with bird flu, a government statement said. The disease was not known to affect humans until May of this year, having been confined mostly to chickens.
Health officials said other cases have yet to be confirmed. A 60-year-old woman who died of pneumonia earlier this week was also suspected of being infected by the virus. The bird flu has alarmed Hong Kong residents. Scores of people swarmed to hospital emergency wards in the territory during the two-day Christmas holiday on fears they might have contracted the H5N1 strain of influenza. Most of the patients were treated for common flu.