A 27-year-old Thai man has died of bird flu, the country's second death this year, officials said today, as they put eight more provinces, including the Bangkok area, on a bird flu watchlist.
The man died on Thursday after the H5N1 virus killed chickens on his backyard farm in the province of Uthai Thani, 220 km (135 miles) north of Bangkok, the third province to suffer an outbreak since the virus re-emerged in July after an eight-month lull.
"He buried them without any protection and that's why he caught bird flu," Thawat Suntrajarn, chief of the Department of Disease Control, said of Thailand's 16th victim since the disease swept through parts of Asia in late 2003. The World Health Organization, which says bird flu killed at least 134 people worldwide before the latest Thai death, urged previously hard-hit countries to be vigilant.
"Even in a country as well prepared as Thailand, it can come back and you can never rest easy," said Chadin Tephaval, a spokesman for the WHO in Thailand. In Uthai Thani, 116 chickens and fighting cocks were culled to prevent the virus spreading from the dead man's farm.
His wife was not sick, but was being monitored after she cooked and ate some of the dead birds, Thawat said. Since the death of a Thai teenager in late July, Thailand has rushed to plug gaps in its bird flu defences. The area around the sprawling Thai capital was among eight provinces declared bird flu risk zones on Saturday, increasing the total to 29 of Thailand's 76 provinces. "The ministry will step up proactive measures and campaigns to fight the virus," Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said in announcing the expanded watchlist.
She said local officials would go on a door-to-door campaign to educate villagers on how to handle sick or dead poultry. A new call centre would take reports of suspicious poultry deaths and answer questions about the disease. WARNINGS IGNORED The fact that people were still handling dead chickens with their bare hands showed the government's safety message was not getting through, officials say.