The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Islamabad

Bird flu hit two countries Saturday as it was confirmed that a man who died culling infected birds in Pakistan became the country's first human fatality, while a seven-year-old girl became Myanmar's first human case.

Pakistan's health ministry on Saturday also confirmed that one of the dead man's brothers who took part in the cull also died, but he was not tested for the virus, a ministry spokesman told AFP. It was not immediately known why the second man was not tested.

But the spokesman ruled out any case of human-to-human transmission -- a development that could have signalled a mutation of the virus with the possibility to kill millions around the world.

Six people were confirmed to have been infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, all of them in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan, the ministry said in a statement.

"Five of them have fully recovered. One of the confirmed cases died in hospital while his brother, who could not be tested, has also died," it said.

Ministry spokesman Mazhar Nisar said the confirmed victim, the brother who died, and two other brothers who were infected but survived all worked on the same cull of infected birds.

"We are not certain how (the brother) died because we could not conduct his testing," Nisar said.

Hospital officials in the provincial capital of Peshawar told AFP that the confirmed victim Muhammad Tariq died late last month, a few days before his brother, who was admitted with similar symptoms but was not tested.

The virus is usually transmitted to humans from infected birds but scientists fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.