Three patients, who were suspected of suffering from the bird flu upon admission to hospital, showed no symptoms of the disease, a minister said Saturday.

"All three have no symptoms of the bird flu such as fever with temperature exceeding 38 degrees Celsius," Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said at a press conference.

The Veterinary Services Department announced last Thursday thattests on samples from the carcasses of the two chickens in Baru Pasir Village, north state of Kelantan, had confirmed that they were infected with the bird flu virus belonging to the H5N1 strainwhich has an ability to cause severe disease in humans.

The three patients, a 40-year-old mother and her daughter, 16, from Baru Pasir Village and a 30-year-old State Veterinary Department staff, were admitted to the Hospital Kota Baharu for further checks after the bird flu virus was detected in the village two days ago.

"The mother and daughter were admitted to hospital as they saidthey were having fever but upon admission, they were not actually having fever," he said.

However, Chua said his ministry was still waiting for the results of the throat tests on the three patients who were expected to be discharged by the hospital Sunday.

"Should there be any case of avian flu in the country, we will clarify to the people. I hope the media will not speculate on the virus to avoid confusion among the public," Chua said.

He said the ministry had created an isolation ward at Hospital Kota Baharu as well as operations rooms in Tumpat and Kota Baharu as preventive measures against any outbreak of the bird flu.

Veterinary personnel destroyed some 300 chickens, ducks and petbirds in the village Thursday, as the bird flu virus of the H5N1 strain were found in the carcasses of two chickens there.

A 10 kilometer radius quarantine around the village has been imposed as a precautionary measure to check the bird flu.

Source: Xinhua