February 11, 2004

 

 

Thai Eagerness To Prove Poultry Safety Could Backfire

 

Thailand's eagerness to prove to importers the safety of its poultry could backfire and put its population at risk, the World Health Organisation has warned.

 

Echoing similar complaints by Thai health officials, the WHO representative to Thailand, Bjorn Melgaard, said further precautions were necessary to prevent another outbreak of avian flu.

 

These include providing better protection to backyard farmers who have had to cull their own chickens.

 

Mr Melgaard said Thailand and other Asian countries were still paying more attention to the economic impact on poultry farms than the danger posed to humans.

 

"As long as there is a risk to human health, this should weigh more heavily than the economic considerations," he said. 

 

"We don't have sufficient information to be confident that the outbreak is actually over."

 

Thai agriculture officials have stopped culling in most districts and predicted that Thailand will be a virus-free area within weeks.

 

Only one district is now classified as a "red" zone out of 163 former hot spots.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said on Monday that Thailand would soon declare the outbreak over.

 

"The situation will soon revert back to normality and Thailand should be the first country in Asia to end the bird flu in the shortest time," he said.

 

But health officials in Bangkok have expressed concern over such bullish forecasts, which do not conform with their own assessment of the disease.

 

They say they are investigating suspected human flu cases in districts that have been declared officially disease-free.

 

One suspected case involved a person from Phayao village in northern Thailand - a district that was not among the 163 quarantine zones, health ministry spokeswoman Nitaya Mahapol said.

 

At least five people have died of bird flu in Thailand and 24 are suspected of being infected.

 

In a clinical study to be released later this week, the WHO says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission in Thailand.

 

Experts have warned of a pandemic if the virus combines with human influenza to create a virulent hybrid.

 

Mr Melgaard said the risk of a pandemic was increased by the unchecked spread of the disease in Thai poultry. He called for greater efforts to ensure backyard farmers were not handling infected birds without proper protection.

 

"There should be more emphasis on making sure that poor farmers are protected," he said.