Bird Flu Claims At Least Two Lives In Thailand

After weeks of denying the existence of avian flu in the country, Thailand and Cambodia have confirmed outbreaks of the disease on Friday. In addition, two bird flu related human deaths were reported in Thailand with several other suspected cases. Thailand is the second country after Vietnam to report human deaths caused by the H5N1 virus.

Millions of chickens have already died as bird flu rages through Asia with Vietnam, Korea, Japan and Taiwan all afflicted with the disease. Bird flu is also suspected in Laos and Indonesia.

The Thai government said tests showed two boys, one 6 and the other 7, have the virus and two other people are suspected of having it. One, reportedly a 56-year-old man who raised fighting cocks, died on Friday.

Cambodia also confirmed its outbreak while Laos held an emergency meeting Friday to evaluate cases of dead poultry there.

Farmers in Thailand have been saying for more than a week that their chickens, like those in neighboring countries, were dying of bird flu. But until Friday, officials had maintained the chickens were suffering from fowl cholera which they said posed no danger to people.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied his government tried to cover up the situation. "We were waiting for the tests," he told reporters. "I know what I'm doing."

Thailand is among the world's top five poultry exporters. Stocks in chicken producers plunged and the European Union joined Japan, together Thailand's largest chicken markets, in slapping import bans. Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines have done likewise.

Thailand will host a meeting Jan. 28 of agriculture and health ministers from bird flu-affected countries.

Dr. Klaus Stohr, head of the World Health Organization's influenza program said, "We have to put things into perspective. There is a chance that something can go wrong but it looks if we act decisively now then there still is a window of opportunity here to control the disease before it takes on global proportions."

Killing chickens in affected countries is "the key to the solution of the whole problem," Stohr added. "We do not have a problem of international spread by infected humans. We may have a problem of international spread by birds."

The deadly bird flu virus crossed over from chickens to humans in Hong Kong in 1997 and killed six people. International health experts have started work on a human vaccine but expect it will be months before one is ready.