February 6, 2004

 

 

Thailand Reports New Suspected Human Bird Flu Case

 

Thailand reported a new suspected human bird flu case Friday, while authorities prepared for a massive free chicken feast aimed at reviving the nation's ailing poultry industry.

 

Up to 60 metric tons of cooked chicken meat and eggs will be given away at the feast Saturday in a park opposite Bangkok's royal palace, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob.

 

The government claims eating eggs and chicken meat is safe, as long as they're well-cooked. But that hasn't persuaded many Thais to resume eating them, as the bird flu death toll climbed to 18 - five in Thailand and 13 in Vietnam.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said a 5-year-old girl from northern Phayao province, who was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms earlier this week, is being tested for bird flu.

 

Twenty people are suspected of having bird flu in Thailand, and nine of them have died. The list of suspected cases has been adjusted almost daily, as authorities receive word of new possible cases or laboratory test results that rule out old ones.

 

Avian flu virus has been found among poultry in 40 of the country's 76 provinces, and officials have slaughtered nearly 26 million birds to try to stop the disease from spreading.

 

Somkid said the culling campaign was completed in all affected provinces except Bangkok.

 

He said provincial governors and the military will carry out tests next week to check if the disease remains in any poultry stocks.

 

"Once everything has been cleared, I am confident...importers will buy our chickens again," Somkid said.

 

"What we need to do now is restore public confidence domestically."

 

Thailand - the world's fourth largest exporter of chicken products - shipped about 500,000 tons of chicken worth 52 billion baht ($1=THB39.100) in 2003. The European Union, Japan and other major markets have banned Thai chicken products over disease fears.

 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government has faced widespread allegations of initially covering up the outbreak, which livestock officials may have detected as early as November, to protect the country's lucrative chicken exports.