November 2, 2004

Thailand Prepared for Bird Flu Revival in Cool Season

The Thai government announced the success of its one-month campaign against avian influenza outbreaks on Monday. Bu the country remains alert and is implementing strict measures to prevent the virus from thriving in the coming cool season.

According to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, " The situation has been significantly improved in one-month's time and we have identified existing problems. But we still have to be prepared and mobilize all resources to tackle the problems."

He described the coming cool season as a major threat of lasting outbreaks.

During the one-month campaign, the government ordered open-feeding ducks to be switched to closed system for farming in order to limit the possible transport of virus.

Large numbers of migrating birds will visit the kingdom in the cool season and thus increase the risk of importing more viruses.

In a bid to prevent the virus from growing endemic, the government pledged to keep track of wild birds and started to give human influenza vaccination to 100,000 people at the highest risk of being infected.

As the world's fourth largest poultry exporter, Thailand has suffered great economic loss caused by the epidemic. At least 30 million birds have died or culled, with billions of orders canceled.

In late September, the United States Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) jointly issued a statement, warning the disease will not be eradicated from the region in the near future and asking for more investment to solve the problem.