February 17, 2004

 

 

Bird Flu Resurfaces In Eight Thai Provinces

 

Thailand's hopes of ending the bird flu battle by the end of the month were dealt a severe blow as the virus was discovered in eight new provinces.

 

A Thai official said that the eight provinces, Uttaradit, Uthai Thani, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Pang-nga, Chaiyaphum, Sukhothai and Phetchburi, have all been designated as red zones.

 

Red zones indicate an active outbreak of the disease and will require culling to control it. Besides the red zones, 32 other provinces out of Thailand's 76 are designated as yellow zones, meaning they will remain under observation for 21 days, a time period that hasn't been approved by any international health organization.

 

Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra pledged to remain vigilant in the fight against bird flu and urged the public not to panic if more outbreaks are found of the disease that has killed 20 people and millions of chickens across Asia.

 

Thaksin said he expects Thailand to be free of the virus by the end of February thanks to the country's mass slaughter of poultry and close monitoring of infected areas.

 

"If the disease is still present, we will keep destroying it," Thaksin said. "We will make sure the country is really clean."

 

Bird flu has killed five children and one adult in Thailand, and is suspected of having sickened 22 others, nine of whom have died. Officials have confirmed eight cases of human infection here, including the six confirmed fatalities.

 

Authorities have slaughtered more than 26 million birds in an effort to control the outbreak since Jan. 27. The government has said that all areas except one section of the capital, Bangkok, are free of the disease.

 

"If you compare it to an egg, we found the disease in the yolk and we will continue destroying the disease until it reaches the edge of the egg white," Thaksin said. "But there might (still) be the disease in some spots of the yolk."

 

"Don't panic if we find more bird flu," he said.

 

Thaksin earlier insisted the government could handle the bird flu outbreak, telling members of parliament that officials monitoring the disease were basing their decisions on scientific data.

 

Initial tests for the virus have been completed countrywide and two more rounds of tests were underway, with results expected to show that the virus has been wiped out, he said.

 

On Saturday, a 13-year-old boy, Ekkaphan Pongkhan, became the country's latest bird flu fatality, after his family's chickens started dying mysteriously, a ministry statement said.

 

Also on Saturday, a 1-year-old girl from northeastern Kalasin province became Thailand's latest suspected case. Chickens belonging to the girl's family fell ill and died a week before she became sick with a fever and cough.

 

Ten Asian governments are fighting bird flu. Asian authorities have slaughtered more than 80 million chickens and ducks in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus, which is known to have jumped to people only in Thailand and Vietnam.

 

Last week, Thai authorities said a clouded leopard died from the disease on Jan. 27 possibly after eating raw chicken meat at Dusit Zoo south of Bangkok. The World Health Organization hasn't confirmed if the cat died from bird flu.