Family blamed for bird flu death

Bangkok - Thailand on Wednesday confirmed that a 16-year-old boy who died this week was infected with bird flu, and the prime minister blamed the boy's relatives for his death, saying they had tried to hide an outbreak among their chickens.

Thai health officials said that Yongyuth Daengmeesri of the northern province of Phichit, who died on Monday, became infected after helping his family bury some of their chickens that had died.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra held the boy's family responsible for the death because they had failed to inform health authorities that their chickens were sick, and sought to avoid a required cull of all of their poultry.

"They buried the chickens themselves because they were worried that if they told the authorities, the authorities would cull all their chickens," Thaksin told reporters.

"The hospital learned about the case only after the patient's condition had deteriorated."

The boy became Thailand's 15th bird flu fatality and the country's first confirmed case in humans this year, according to laboratory results on Wednesday morning.

The virus has been transmitted to humans who have had close contact with infected birds and carcasses, killing at least 134 people in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

- AP