Thailand confirms second bird-flu death this year
6/8/2006 10:39
Thai public health officials confirmed yesterday a 27-year-old man had
died of bird flu in lower central province Uthai Thani, the country's second
death this year and its 16th victim to the deadly H5N1 virus since its outbreak
in 2004, according to Thai media reports.
The man died on Thursday in Sawang
Arom district, Uthai Thani province, about 200 kilometers north of Bangkok,
after killing and burying sick chickens on his farm without protection, said
Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general of the Department of Communicable Disease
Control under the Public Health Ministry, quoted by Bangkok Post on
Saturday.
Thailand has stepped up surveillance after a 17-year-old boy died
from bird flu in northern Phichit province late July as the first fatality from
the disease this year.
The 27-year-old man's wife was not sick, but was being
monitored after she cooked and ate some of the dead birds, Thawat
said.
Farmers in Thailand have been required to inform the authorities
immediately once upon any suspicious death or sickness of their birds or
otherwise face harsh punishment.
Xinhua
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