Britons warned of bird flu threat

Britons are warned to avoid poultry markets in Thailand

Britons travelling to parts of Asia are urged to take care after several deaths in an outbreak of bird flu in chickens.

As many as six people, including a boy of six, have died in Thailand with another half dozen dead in Vietnam.

The UK Foreign Office has urged travellers to avoid bird markets and farms in affected countries.

South Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan and Pakistan have also had to cull birds to stop the spread of the disease.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it was safe to eat chicken even in an affected area, as the disease was caught from close contact with live infected birds.

It added that the disease was unlikely to be caught in the UK, as no raw chicken from the areas affected had been imported since the current outbreak began.

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FSA adviser Professor Hugh Pennington told BBC News 24: "This is not a food safety problem...

"You have to breath in the virus from the sick bird, the bird that's actually excreting the virus in order to get infected and even that's a pretty rare event."

Professor Pennington said eating chicken imported from Thailand would not be a risk, even if it was available.

"Cooking the chicken kills the virus stone dead."

Direct contact

Frances Tuke, from the Association of British Travel Agents, said people planning to travel to Thailand should avoid any live animal market.

"Quite a lot of tourists do go to them," she told BBC Radio Five Live.

Bird flu, otherwise known as avian influenza viruses, cause disease ranging from mild conjunctivitis to severe flu.

There is no evidence the disease passes between humans, but it is feared this outbreak could mutate as it spreads.

The first suspected case in this outbreak was reported in Thailand in November.

All the confirmed cases in Asia had had direct contact with infected poultry.

The Thai boy who died is believed to have picked up the virus after touching the carcasses of infected poultry in his village in western Kanchanaburi province.