The first case of human-to-human transmission of avian flu in Pakistan has been confirmed.
Tests carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that bird flu killed some members of a family in north-west Pakistan late last year.
The WHO says steps were taken to prevent future fatalities in the area.
Pakistan's north-west and southern regions were hit by bird flu last year. Thousands of birds were culled to control the spread of the disease.
Brothers
The confirmation of people dying from bird flu came on Thursday 3rd April 2008, after samples collected from a family in the north-western city of Peshawar tested positive.
Dr Mukhtiar Zaman Afridi, head of the isolation ward for avian flu patients at Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, told that a poultry worker in Peshawar apparently passed the disease on to members of his family.
The worker, whose name is being withheld on the request of the WHO, was brought to the hospital with avian flu symptoms on 29 October 2007, he says.
He has fully recovered since then.
But on 12 November, the elder brother of the poultry worker was brought in with similar symptoms. He died a week later.
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