Bird flu has killed five people in Azerbaijan, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The organization report quoted by Reuters said it was investigating whether some of the victims could have been infected collecting feathers from dead swans.

Confirmation of the five deaths takes the WHO toll from the virus to 103 since late 2003.

Fears are growing the H5N1 flu virus will mutate and pass easily from one person to another but for the moment it remains hard for people to catch it from infected birds. “We don’t see any human-to-human transmission (in Azerbaijan). The exact source of exposure to the deadly virus is under investigation, which is focussing on defeathering of birds,” WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.

Tags: Bird Flu, Azerbaijan, World Health Organization, WHO