Islamabad: The Pakistani Health officials have reported the cases of first human fatality caused by the deadly avian flu. According to the Health Ministry of Pakistan, the people who have been found infected with the deadly H5N1 virus worked at a poultry farm in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, near the border with Afghanistan.

The Health officials nosing about the cases told that the cases were reported in the North West Frontier Province in late October.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said, "Six cases were found positive for H5N1 avian influenza virus; Five of them have fully recovered."

The Ministry of Health reported that one man infected with H5N1 died in hospital and his brother, who had not been tested, has also died. The second death is being investigated.

Federal Health Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari told that while Pakistan has registered cases of bird flu in poultry this is the first time it has been reported in humans.

Hence, at least five other people from the same border region have recently been confirmed as suffering from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. According to the authorities, two have recovered, and the remaining patients are in quarantine.

However, Lashari told no more poultry or human cases had been detected in the last two weeks, a team of World Health Organization (WHO) will arrive in Pakistan in the next few days.

On Saturday, The World Health Organization stated it was aware of eight suspected human cases of H5N1 bird flu in Pakistan's Peshawar region. The Geneva-based organization also reported that it was providing technical support to the country's Health Ministry.

On its website www.who.int., the UN agency has stated, "These cases were detected following a series of culling operations in response to outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry. One of the cases has now recovered and a further two suspected cases have since died.”

According to WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl, the first known person infected with H5N1 in Pakistan was a man who had worked as a poultry culler, who died as a result of the virus. Two of his brothers had also fallen ill, one of whom subsequently died. It has not been confirmed whether the second death occurred as a result of the man caring for his brother or from exposure to infected birds kept in their home.

Referring to analysis on whether the bird flu strain had mutated, Hartl said, "The details are not 100 percent clear ... The virus has not been characterized yet, There are several cases within one family. We don't know how the family members contracted the virus."

The WHO records articulate that more than 200 people have died of bird flu worldwide since 2003. The Pakistani cases bring to nearly 350 the number of people worldwide who are known to have contracted the H5N1 virus, since 2003. Indonesia has had the heaviest toll, with 115 human cases including 92 deaths, followed by Vietnam with 100 cases and 46 deaths.

However in Pakistan, the first poultry case appeared in early 2006.

So far, it has appeared difficult for humans to contract H5N1, which is mainly an animal disease, but experts fear the strain could spark a global pandemic and kill millions if it mutates to spread more easily.