`Bird flu' blamed for two deaths

Hong Kong - Hong Kong residents are eating less chicken because of growing worries over a mysterious "bird flu" which has killed two people, official figures showed yesterday. Doctors suspect three more people might have contracted the H5N1 strain of influenza, which is normally confined to birds. The territory's main markets sold 62,500 live chickens yesterday, down some 40 per cent from Monday's 103,000.