- BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thailand
became the latest country in Asia confirmed to have bird flu, sparking
fears of a resurgence of the winter outbreak that left 24 people dead and
devastated the region's poultry industry.
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- Officials confirmed a case of the deadly H5N1 strain
of the virus at a farm in central Thailand, which followed new cases of
bird flu in China and Vietnam.
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- The three countries were among the worst hit of the 10
Asian nations affected by the winter bird flu outbreak that killed eight
people in Thailand and 16 in Vietnam.
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- The new case in Thailand has added to the fears of a
fresh economic setback despite attempts by officials to play down the threat
of a widespread epidemic.
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- The mass culling and import bans from other countries
-- including a fresh poultry ban that was extended by the EU last week
until December -- had a devastating effect on businesses in the region
during the outbreak earlier this year.
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- Thai officials said Wednesday that all the surviving
chickens at the farm in the central Ayutthaya province had been culled
after some 7,000 of 44,000 birds had died in the last fortnight from disease.
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- "The test result was positive (for bird flu) and
we have culled all the chickens since last night and deployed officials
to control the area," said Newin Chidchob, the deputy agriculture
minister.
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- Newin said officials had also culled another 800 chickens
in the neighbouring province of Pathum Thani where 70 had died from suspected
bird flu and he admitted the outbreak could spread to other provinces.
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- "It is likely that the outbreak could spread similarly
to the previous time but I don't think that the scale of the outbreak would
be as severe as last time," he said.
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- China on Tuesday announced a new outbreak of bird flu,
nearly four months after claiming it had beaten the virus which had infected
flocks in about half of its 31 provinces.
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- Chinese media reported that the latest outbreak may have
been caused by migratory birds.
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- Bird flu has also appeared in Vietnam over the last three
months and is believed to be the H5N1 strain that can be lethal for humans.
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- However, full testing has not been carried out, making
it difficult to link cases there with the outbreaks elsewhere in Asia,
according to the acting World Health Organisation representative for Thailand,
Kumara Rai.
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- Vietnamese officials said six provinces had been hit
by bird flu since early April, with thousands of birds slaughtered, but
they also played down the scale of the potential epidemic.
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- During the outbreak earlier this year, 44 million birds
died or were slaughtered as a result of the disease that was detected in
57 out of 64 provinces in Vietnam.
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- Unlike in Thailand, where the authorities had balked
at declaring the country bird flu free, Hanoi announced on March 30 that
flu had been eradicated despite warnings from United Nations that it was
acting prematurely.
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- However, the authorities in Thailand had been heavily
criticised for failing to issue early warnings about the emergence of bird
flu that devastated the billion-dollar poultry industry.
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- Critics accused the government of protecting some of
the country's huge producers despite the threat to human health, and fresh
claims of a cover-up have emerged over the latest cases.
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- The authorities said they had told the World Organisation
for Animal Health about the chicken deaths on Saturday but not the Thai
people because the case had not then been confirmed.
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- "We did not inform the public about the new outbreak
because we assumed that Thai people no longer care about the re-emergence
of bird flu which has become an ordinary incident here," Yukol Limlaemthong,
director-general of the country's livestock department, was quoted as saying
in the Bangkok Post.
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