January 27, 2004

Four More Suspected Bird Flu Deaths In Thailand

Bird flu appears to have claimed four additional human lives in the avian flu outbreak raging through Thailand, the health ministry said on Monday.

There are a total of 10 suspected cases, including the four who have died and a 56-year-old man who died Friday. The ministry is awaiting lab results to see whether or not the victims succumbed to bird flu cases, the Public Health Ministry said in a statement.

The victims were from northern Sukhothai province. The statement didn't say when they died.

The five surviving patients are all children. Two are from the hardest-hit province of Suphanburi, while one is from Chainat, one is from Nakhon Sawan and one is from Ayutthaya.

The statement comes after Thailand announced its first human death from bird flu and confirmed that an additional person was infected with the virus - bringing the country's total to three cases.

Officials also said the bird flu ravaging Asia's poultry stocks has been confirmed in 10 of Thailand's 76 provinces where some 10 million chickens have already been slaughtered.