Boy dies as bird flu spreads

妖妖UID: 149770

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/01/26/bird.flu/index.html

Monday, January 26, 2004 Posted: 8:26 AM EST (1326 GMT)
[B]BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- The bird flu outbreak -- which is rapidly spreading across Asia and has killed at least seven people, including a child in Thailand -- has now hit Pakistan, officials said. [/B]

Avian influenza was detected in poultry farms in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, government officials said, but there was no evidence the disease had infected humans there.

The announcement Monday means bird flu has now reached eight nations, further stoking fears among health experts the virus may be uncontrollable and could mutate into a deadlier form transmissible from humans to humans.

It is also leading to questions of how the virus is spreading, with the migration and interaction of birds as well as exports of poultry and poultry products being investigated.

As well as Pakistan, bird flu has hit Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. A different strain of bird flu has been detected in Taiwan, while Laos has reported suspected cases in poultry.

Humans have been infected only in Vietnam and Thailand so far, although officials in Cambodia said Monday that two boys who played with chickens are suspected of having come down with the virus.

Thai officials on Monday confirmed the country's first human death from bird flu -- a 6-year-old boy -- bringing to at least seven the number of people killed by the disease.

Six deaths have been confirmed in Vietnam -- the nation hardest hit by bird flu -- and all but one were children.

Apart from another boy infected with bird flu, Thai officials say there have been at least 10 more suspected human cases. Five of those people have died.

Thai officials only confirmed an outbreak of bird flu -- a strain of H5N1 avian influenza -- on Friday after days of denying accusations from farmers and opposition legislators that the nation had been hit by the dangerous disease.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra conceded on the weekend his government suspected for "a couple of weeks" the country was facing an outbreak of bird flu but decided not to reveal the outbreak until Friday in an attempt to avoid mass panic.

Thaksin's admission comes as his government faces increasing criticism over its handling of the outbreak amid claims of a cover-up.

Observers say the outbreak is also fast becoming the biggest crisis Thaksin has faced as leader, tarnishing his image of invulnerability and potentially creating a wave of public backlash.

With farmers and the public too frightened to carry out a cull in the central province of Suphanburi, Thai military troops and prisoners were dispatched for the slaughter, placing the birds in plastic bags for burial in deep pits. (Full story)

By Sunday, 9 million chickens had been slaughtered, and already the outbreak has been devastating for Thailand's massive poultry industry. The country is among the world's top five chicken exporters.

On Sunday, China became the latest nation to ban imports of Thai chicken products. The EU and Japan slapped similar bans on Thailand last week.

Indonesia hit
Also Sunday, Indonesia confirmed it had been hit by the disease. Officials there had earlier denied claims of the disease's presence there.

As scientist work to understand the virus, The World Health Organization says a vaccine for the disease is at least six months away because the disease keeps mutating.


Thaksin has come under fire for his government's handling of the outbreak.   
So far it is believed all the human victims caught the disease from fowl, and there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

If the disease mutated enough to allow such transmission, health experts warn the virus could become a bigger health crisis than SARS. That virus killed nearly 800 people worldwide last year.

The WHO is also highly concerned because the bird flu virus appears resistant to cheaper anti-viral drugs used to treat regular influenza.

"This is a disease that's appearing in the developing world. So what you want is affordable drugs," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.

"Should this move from human to human -- and it hasn't yet, I want to stress that -- then it's going to be a real challenge."

Added WHO spokesman Bob Dietz: "The more widespread it becomes, the greater the possibility that the (bird flu) virus could become altered and become more of a threat to the human population."


Eight nations in Asia have confirmed they have bird flu.

妖妖UID: 149770

Sunday, January 25, 2004 Posted: 10:49 PM EST (0349 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/as ... color.ap/index.html

[B]BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Hundreds of soldiers wearing safety masks, rubber gloves and protective caps fanned out across a central Thai province on a mission to bury chickens believed to be carrying bird flu. [/B]

Donning rubber gloves and boots, pink, blue and purple shower caps, along with safety masks, Thai troops and about 60 prisoners were dispatched in Thailand's hard-hit Suphanburi province.

They were to help bury poultry that had been killed or had died from the disease, said Major Detchana Detsonti Sunday.

Thailand has already exterminated some 9 million chickens, mainly by tying them up in sacks and burying them alive.

Thailand's Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchop told reporters the soldiers and prisoners were drafted because of labor problems.

"It is difficult to find laborers as after the bird flu outbreak was confirmed many of them are avoiding working on farms," Newin said, according to a Reuters news report.

As a bus of shower-capped soldiers headed out to a farm, some joked about their assignment.

"When I joined, I didn't think I would do anything like this," one said.

The Public Health Ministry said it was concerned that farms were not burying infected birds quickly enough to control the disease.

"I'm very concerned about the way farmers dispose of their dead chickens, especially when they toss their chickens into open rivers," said Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan.

The outbreak has devastated Thailand's chicken export industry -- the world's fourth largest.

Thailand shipped about 500,000 tonnes of chicken worth $1.3 billion in 2003.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra tried to ease farmers fears on Sunday, promising them compensation, help with starting up again after the epidemic and a suspension of their debts.