Bird flu hits Thailand

2005-07-11 21:26

Bangkok - The deadly bird flu virus was found in chickens and fighting cocks in central Thailand, said officials on Monday, a day before the kingdom was due to declare the disease had been wiped out.

Nirandorn Engtrakoolsuk, the director of Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Service, said the new cases were found at four locations in central Suphan Buri province on Friday last week, forcing the bird flu-free declaration to be delayed by at least three months.

He said the cases were detected in backyard chickens and fighting cocks during an x-ray surveillance programme run by the livestock department.

Livestock department chief Yukol Limlamthong said the latest infections were not a new outbreak, but lingering cases from a previous outbreak in the province that was already under heightened surveillance.

X-ray surveillance

He said: "We found it because we were already doing X-rays to monitor the disease, it was not a new outbreak."

Yukol said the incidence of bird flu had dropped steadily in the last 10 months.

X-ray surveillance around the country detected bird flu in 52% of the locations surveyed, compared with 20% in February.

Yukol said the Suphan Buri cases were the only cases of bird flu found in the latest check.

According to international rules, the latest cases forced Thailand to delay its declaration as bird-flu free for at least three months, if no new cases were found.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had claimed the lives of more than 50 people in Asia since an outbreak was reported in 2003, including 12 people in Thailand.

- AFP