New bird flu cases found in Thailand
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-12 16:23

Thailand has discovered new cases of bird flu just as it was about to declare the country free of the disease, a livestock official said Monday.

Bird flu — avian influenza — has been found in fowl in villages in the central province of Suphanburi, 60 miles north of Bangkok, said Yukol Limlamthong, director-general of the Agriculture Ministry's Livestock Department.

"The disease was found in 10 fighting cocks in the five villages where an outbreak hit last year," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) meets with Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura in Tokyo July 12, 2005. [Reuters]

Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan had planned to declare Thailand "bird flu-free" on Tuesday, 90 days after the last cases were discovered in another central province, Lopburi.

In order to boost confidence in its poultry industry, Thailand decided to use a 90- day waiting period after the last known finding of a bird flu case to declare the country free of the flu, even though internationally accepted standards allow 21 days.

Health experts have warned that the disease will be difficult to eradicate and is likely to re-emerge occasionally, possibly for years.

Hundreds of millions of birds died or were slaughtered across Asia in the last two years because of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has also jumped to humans, killing 51 people in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

Experts fear that if the virus mutates into a form that could be passed easily from person to person it could spark a global pandemic, killing millions.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said he had ordered a ban on the movement of chickens within a six-mile radius of the new outbreak and expected to be able to contain the disease.

Barring new outbreaks, the declaration that Thailand is bird flu-free would be made in 21 days, rather than waiting for a 90-day period, he said.