Spreading bird flu claims seventh human fatality in Thailand
Bangkok (AsiaNews)- A four year-old boy has become the seventh person to die of the bird flu virus in Thailand. A large resurgence of the virus was announced in Thailand on Monday after the flu was found to have re-emerged in 9 provinces, destroying hopes that the country could be declared disease-free. Thai Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob warned on Tuesday that the Thai people and the financial markets should brace themselves for more bad news when the results of a new round of testing were released on February 13th. "From only 2,000 samples we found bird flu had emerged in 14 spots, or the equivalent of 0.7 per cent of total samples," Mr. Chidchob said, "There will be more detection of bird flu in the remaining 8,000 samples."
The boy died February 3 in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen. Tests confirmed that he had the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, said Charal Trinvithipong, director general of the Communicable Disease Control Department. Hundreds of dead storks detected to have the same H5N1 virus have been found outside Bangkok
The bird flu disease has gripped 10 Asian nations and killed already 20 people in Vietnam and Thailand. More than 80 million birds have been destroyed in the Asian countries, crippling Thailand's 1.2 billion US dollars poultry export business.
It has also spread in the United States, with Pennsylvania the third northern US state to find a weaker strain among chicken flocks. Japan, which had only previously had one case of the flu, confirmed on Tuesday that chickens at a farm in Oita prefecture on southern Kyushu island had died from avian flu. It is not yet known if they died from the H5N1 virus.
On Monday, mainland officials said a case of bird flu had been detected in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, the first in the region. The National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory confirmed five new cases in Hubei province and one in Guangdong province. The Ministry of Agriculture reported a new suspected case in Baicheng, Jilin province.
On Monday, Vietnam confirmed a new human case of bird flu, although its poultry industry has announced no new outbreaks in the past seven days. It is a 15 years-old boy from northern Thanh Hoa province. The World Bank said bird flu could cost Vietnam up to 1.8 per cent of its annual gross domestic product, or 690 million US dollars, should the virus start to spread among humans.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization and the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will hold an emergency meeting from February 26- 28 in Bangkok to discuss ways to fight the disease, and measures to revive the poultry sector. About 80 officials and international experts from 20 countries will be in attendance. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met with representatives of major chicken importers in Japan and the European Union on Tuesday to persuade them that Thai chicken is safe. A government spokesman said the importers were pleased with Thailand's measures so far, and expressed confidence that despite the setback, the disease would be wiped out by the end of the month. But the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said despite the efforts, the crisis was far from being resolved and that it was dangerous to set deadlines.
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17/08/2004
28/01/2004
17/01/2004
