Asia bird flu outbreak's full economic impact to depend on virus behavior

摘要

SINGAPORE - The economic damage caused by the bird flu outbreak in Asia is so far largely confined to rural communities but that could change rapidly if the virus mutates into a form that can spread directly among humans, analysts said. Nine countrieshave now been confirmed hit by the virus, which has killed at least eight people led to the culling or deaths of millions of chickens in a region still recovering economically from last year's SARS epidemic. Health officials fear that bird flu has the potential to be more devastating than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed around 800 people and infected some 8,000 others worldwide in the first half of 2003.