February 9, 2004

 

 

Thailand Enlists Japanese Aid In Bird Flu Fight

 

Thailand will enlist the help of Japanese experts as it bids to be the first Asian nation to be declared bird flu free, the Thai deputy premier said on Monday.

 

"Thailand has asked Japan to send a team to join in testing chicken with Thailand," Somkid Jatusripitak told reporters. "They said they will come next week, but we asked them to come this week."

 

He also expressed confidence that Thailand, among the worst-hit of 10 Asian nations battling outbreaks of bird flu, has taken sufficient measures to combat the spread of the virus and would overcome the crisis in the near future.

 

The country has eradicated all but one of its 163 outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus, which had been reported in more than half of its 76 provinces including Bangkok, where the remaining outbreak is located.

 

Thailand announced it had bird flu on January 23, and has confirmed five deaths from the virus with 23 suspected cases, nine of them fatal.

                 

The kingdom admitted it "screwed up" in its initial handling of the outbreak and has been working overtime to assure its jittery public and the international community that it has been doing all it can to prevent the spread of the disease and protect public health.

 

Japan, the largest market for Thailand's 1.2 billion dollar poultry export business, will join Thai health and agriculture authorities in re-testing the cleared oubreak zones to ensure the virus has been eradicated there.

 

"If the disease is over, confidence from foreign countries will increase," Somkid added. "I believe Thailand will be the first Asian nation to eradicate this disease."

 

Japan, which suffered a bird flu outbreak at a single farm in December and January, is more likely to declare itself free of bird flu first, with officials aiming to do so as early as February 19 if an investigation turns up no new cases.

 

Japan is among several markets,, including the European Union, to have imposed some form of ban on Thai poultry over bird flu concerns.

 

The lethal H5N1 virus has been reported in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Less virulent strains have hit Pakistan, Taiwan and most recently the United States, which at the weekend reported a single outbreak on a farm in the eastern state of Delaware.

 

Thirteen people have died from bird flu in Vietnam, the only country other than Thailand to report confirmed human infections.

 

Some 50 million fowl, mainly chickens, have been slaughtered across Asia in an effort to stem the spread of the disease.