Thai workers protect themselves against avian flu

Vietnam and Thailand have reported human deaths from the strain.

Indonesia, Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China and Laos have also reported avian flu in poultry.

So far, the human cases appear to have been in people in close contact with sick birds. There have been no cases of human to human transmission.

A chronology of the key events:

November 2003 - Thailand reports cases of what it calls chicken cholera.

15 December - South Korea confirms an outbreak of avian flu after the virus was discovered at a farm 80km (50 miles) south of Seoul. Since then, more than two million chickens and ducks have been culled in a bid to stamp out the disease.

9 January 2004 - The UN sends help to Vietnam after an avian flu outbreak is confirmed.

11 January - The first Vietnamese death from avian flu is confirmed.

13 January - Japan confirms an outbreak of avian flu amongst its poultry flocks.

15 January - Taiwan announces it also has cases of avian flu amongst poultry, though this is later confirmed to be a less virulent strain, H5N2.

21 January - Laos reports suspected chicken cholera.

23 January - Thailand confirms the first human cases of avian flu.

23 Jan - Cambodia detects its first case in chickens. The European Union and Japan ban imports of Thai poultry.

24 January - A 13-year-old boy is confirmed as the Vietnam's sixth victim of avian flu. Five other Vietnamese children and one adult have also died from the virus.

25 January - Indonesia announces it has seen cases of avian flu in poultry. Officials said they wanted to carry out further investigations before ordering a cull of poultry.

26 January - A six-year-old boy is confirmed as the first Thai avian flu fatality. Five other people suspected of having the disease have also died.

Pakistan announces it has seen cases of the H-7 and H-9 strains of avian flu in poultry. These strains are said to be less dangerous than H5N1.

27 January - A second six-year-old boy dies from the disease in Thailand.

Laos confirms an outbreak of the disease among its chickens, but says more tests are needed to know which strain in involved.

China confirms that ducks in the south western province of Guangxi, bordering Vietnam, have been infected with the H5N1 strain. Outbreaks are also suspected in Hubei and Hunan provinces.

28 January - Vietnam says two sisters who killed and cooked a chicken ahead of their brother's wedding had died of the H5N1 strain.

2 February - An 18-year-old man in Vietnam becomes the ninth person to die from bird flu in the country.

Thailand also records the death of a 58-year-old woman.

3 February - Indonesia confirms its outbreak is of the H5N1 strain.

Thailand says a seven-year-old boy has died of bird flu.

4 February - Two more people - a six-year-old boy in Thailand and a teenage girl in Vietnam - are confirmed to have died from bird flu, taking the toll to 15.

5 February - A 16-year-old girl in southern Vietnam is confirmed to have died from the flu.

6 February - Two more deaths are confirmed from bird flu in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City - a six-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that tests have shown that two sisters in Vietnam did not contract the virus from human to human transmission.

9 February - A 27-year-old man from Vietnam's southern Binh Phuoc province was confirmed to have died from the virus, raising the number of dead to 14 in Vietnam and 19 in total.

14 February - A 13-year-old boy becomes Thailand's sixth fatality from bird flu and the 20th in total. Reports said that he had fallen ill after burying chickens on his family's farm.

17 February - Japan confirms a second outbreak of bird flu in poultry, dashing hopes that it had contained the virus. It was reported on the southern island of Kyushu in Oita prefecture. It is not yet known if the birds died from the H5N1 strain of the virus which has caused the deaths in humans.

18 February - The WHO confirms that a Thai four-year-old boy who died on 3 February was the victim of bird flu, becoming the country's 7th fatality from the virus. Vietnam also reported a bird flu death - the country's 15th - but the age of the victim was not clear.