Thailand confirms second bird flu death this year

A 27-year-old man has died of bird flu, becoming the second person this year to be killed by the disease in Thailand, a Health Ministry official said today.

Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, chief of the Department of Communicable Disease Control, said the man came from Uthai Thani province in the country’s north.

“I can confirm the man tested positive for the H5N1 virus,” Thawat said, referring to results of tests carried out in Thailand.

Another Health Ministry official, who demanded anonymity, said the man died on Thursday. The official said the man had buried sick chickens and also ate birds that had died of the virus.

At least 134 people have died worldwide since the disease began spreading in Asia in late 2003, according to the World Health Organisation, including 15 in Thailand.

The WHO has not yet confirmed the latest death in Thailand.

In the past two weeks, Thailand has confirmed two outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry and recorded its first human fatalities from the disease in eight months.

News of the new outbreaks triggered increased concern about the disease, and hundreds of people who earlier had bird flu-like symptoms but were cleared after testing were being checked again.

Health officials also have said that a special committee will be created in Nakhon Phanom where one of the outbreaks occurred to assist health agencies and the province will receive equipment for rapid testing of suspected cases. Authorities will also do more to educate people about the disease, and volunteers in every village will look for symptoms among their neighbours.

In his weekly radio address today, Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for farmers to quickly report the death of chickens. In the past, he has accused some farmers of trying to cover up outbreaks.

“When people who have contacted chicken become sick, it is advisable for them to immediately inform the authorities so that they could control the disease from spreading,” Thaksin said.

Thailand on Thursday also announced it had successfully synthesised a generic version of the anti-viral drug used to treat bird flu in humans, and would distribute it to health centres by November.

The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation will stockpile two million capsules of the generic version of oseltamivir which will be known as GPO-A-Flu. But in the event of a large bird flu outbreak among humans, officials said the GPO can produce up to 400,000 capsules per day.