Thailand was scrambling to determine whether bird flu struck five people in a northern province as the World Health Organisation expressed concern that human-to-human transmission of the lethal virus had occurred. An intense investigation has focused on Kamphaeng Phet province, where a boy and a girl who died this month of severe pneumonia after coming into contact with dying chickens are listed as suspect bird flu cases. The 11-year-old girl's mother, who lived near Bangkok but traveled north to visit her daughter in hospital and then attend her funeral, returned to the Thai capital where she too fell ill and died. Her death is also on the suspect list.
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