Bird flu kills Thai boy
09/12/2005 07:53  - (SA)  

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Bangkok - A five-year-old boy has died of bird flu in central Thailand - the country's 14th death from the H5N1 virus.

A senior Thai health official, speaking ahead of a press conference by Thai health minister Pinit Jarusombat, said the boy died in a hospital in the Ongkharak district of Nakhon Nayok province on Wednesday.

Laboratory tests results have confirmed the boy died of H5N1.

She added that fourteen of the boy's relatives had been placed under surveillance.

The Thai government has made efforts to curb the disease, recruiting 900 000 volunteers to monitor for any outbreaks and beginning to produce its own version of the anti-viral drug, Tamiflu.

However, it has struggled to eradicate the disease.

The boy's death is the 22nd confirmed case of bird flu in Thailand since the H5N1 virus was first detected in the country two years ago.

About 63 million chicken, ducks and other poultry have died from the virus or been culled.

- AFP

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