January 27, 2004

Thailand Confirms Second Human Bird Flu Casualty

The Public Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday that a six-year-old boy became Thailand's second bird flu fatality - the eighth for the region - following six deaths in Vietnam.

Thai officials are awaiting laboratory results on five other deaths believed linked to the virus.

Thailand's first death, announced Monday, was also a six-year-old boy, who had carried a dying chicken to a butcher.

Thailand planned to host an international meeting Wednesday in Bangkok to discuss strategies for combatting the illness. Nearly a dozen governments, including China, United States and European Union, were expected to send representatives, Thai officials said.

Countries have been reporting new outbreaks in poultry stocks by the day, with Indonesia joining the list of affected countries on Sunday, Pakistan on Monday and Laos on Tuesday.

The Laos Livestock Department director Singkham Phounvisay said tests confirmed the virus there after reports of hundreds of chickens being sickened.

So far, nine governments have reported some strain of bird flu - Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Some countries - including Indonesia, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan - claim their version of bird flu is milder than the one that has jumped to humans.