A Dutch veterinarian died of pneumonia this week after being infected with a bird flu virus that has swept through Dutch poultry farms, the Health Ministry said today.
A ministry statement said it was unclear whether the virus had undergone a mutation of the kind that was thought to have created the deadly SARS virus.
"Because the bird flu virus was detected in the lungs and there is no other possible explanation for the clinical picture, there is a strong indication that the man died due to the consequences of the bird flu virus," the statement said.
The 57-year-old veterinarian, who died on Thursday in the southern city of Den Bosch, became ill two days after working on a farm that had been infected with bird flu, or avian virus.
Bird flu has already infected a handful of farm workers, but until now it had only caused minor eye infections that were relatively harmless and easily treated.
Dutch authorities, however, imposed controls earlier this week on the transport of pigs because of fears that a few animals found to be carrying the virus might create a devastating disease like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
SARS, which has killed 172 people and infected nearly 3,500 around the world, is thought to have been the result of human and avian viruses mixing in Guangdong, China, where people live close to animals.
Dutch authorities have slaughtered around 15 million of over 100 million poultry in the country to fight the outbreak of bird flu. The Netherlands is the biggest poultry exporter in the EU.