December 23, 2008
Northern Thai province keeps eye on bird flu outbreak
Officials in Pichai district in the lower northern province of Uttaradit in Thailand are strictly monitoring trade and farming of poultry in a tight watch against bird flu.
Pichai is also near Sukhothai province where health officers found the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus in dead fowl in late October.
Provincial livestock department head Panom Meesiripan found that villagers still used an unsuitable way of poultry farming, allowing chickens or ducks to move freely. In the cold season, poultry are easily infected by the bird flu virus.
The livestock service chief said that three bird flu operation teams would inspect every village for information on epidemic diseases in poultry and keep inspecting and disinfecting farms in every village continuously for six months until May next year.
