Asian countries afflicted with bird flu should change their lifestyle and ways to deal with chickens to prevent and control the fatal virus, an official of the World Health Organization (WH O) said here Tuesday.

Peter Cordingley, spokesman of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office based in Manila, said in an interview with Xinhua that Asian countries affected by the bird flu crisis should adopt a more healthy and cautious way in raising and selling chickens.

"They have to completely change their lifestyle and attitude toward animals," he said.

He said it is quite popular in Asia that farmers live closely with their chickens and sell live chickens on the market. This proximity greatly raises the possibility for human to be infected with bird flu, he said.

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a contagious disease of animals caused by a virus that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs.

There have been 11 Asian countries and regions reporting bird flu cases in animals so far. Among them, only Vietnam and Thailand have reported bird flu cases in humans.

Cordingley cited Hong Kong as a success in dealing with bird flu. Although the first documented human infections with the virus occurred in Hong Kong in 1997, ailing 18 persons and killing six of them, it witnessed no second bird flu outbreak afterward.

"In Hong Kong, Chinese people love to go to the markets to choose live chickens and have them killed, but maybe those days are over," he said.

After a "big scare" in 1997, Hong Kong has immediately taken measures to cope with bird flu. "They separate animals in the market, separate live chickens from the chicken meat, have all farmers take licenses and accept examination every week. The poultry market will close twice a week and get cleaned," he said.

Cordingley also said that Japan and South Korea appear to have controlled bird flu outbreak quickly. They can more easily stop the spread of bird flu because chicken farms there are usually more concentrated.

On the contrary, he said, chicken farms in countries like Thailand and Vietnam are more scattered, making it more difficult to control the virus spread.

Cordingley said medical and scientific groups in America, China and some other countries are studying the bird flu vaccine, which is expected to be finished in six months.

WHO, Food and Agriculture Organization and other international health organizations have also been urging the international community to provide assistance to the affected areas as to contain the spread of the virus more quickly and effectively.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2004)