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Not bird flu... just a cold
17/02/2006 17:37 - (SA)
Ljubljana - The Slovenian fireman who pulled a swan infected by the deadly bird flu from a river last weekend was suffering a common cold, not the potentially deadly infection, a hospital in Maribor said on Friday.
The man, aged around 30, was admitted to a clinic in the north-eastern city on Thursday, days after he pulled a dead swan from River Drava.
The swan was eventually tested positive to the H5N1 strain of the flu virus, which has killed more than 90 people worldwide since 2003, triggering concern that the fireman became infected despite protective clothes.
It is feared that a mutation could allow it to infect humans more readily and cause a pandemic that could claim millions of lives.
- SAPA
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