November 24, 2003

Salmonella Outbreak Killed More Than 1 Million Chickens in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand
 

A salmonella outbreak in Nakhon Sawan province, a distance of 300 kilometers north of Thailand's capital Bangkok, had killed at least 1 million chickens, as reported by the Nation newspaper on Sunday.

The report quoted farmers as saying that the unseen terrible outbreak was so serious that they had to destroy all chicks after the hens died of the infection.

However, provincial livestock development official Somboon Srisuthep insisted that only 5,000 chickens had perished, stressing aside from that, the outbreak was now under control and the authority had taken necessary measures such as burning the dead chickens.

The entire province had been declared a suspect zone, while checkpoints had been set up around Nong Bua district, the most affected area, to screen incoming and outgoing poultry trucks, Somboon added.

The report said senior officials of the province had asked poultry farmers not to reveal occurrence of the outbreak to avoid hurting the province's economy.