Thai authorities take extra precautions in bird flu-prone areas

BANGKOK, March 1 (TNA) - Public Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri has ordered concerned officials to prevent any outbreak of the avian influenza in Thailand, particularly in vulnerable areas. Wittaya has issued the order to over 300 concerned officials responsible for the prevention of the bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, in areas at risk in 43 Thai provinces nationwide, including those along frontiers with neighbouring nations. The minister said Thursday that Thailand has been free of any new avian flu patient for over five years since 2006 and free of infected poultry for over three years, reflecting effective disease control on both humans and animals in the country. From January 2004 to July 2006, Thailand recorded 25 avian flu patients, 17 of whom died. The public health minister cautioned, however, that the poultry disease and its transmissions to humans remain possible in Thailand because the avian influenza was spreading in neighboring countries. Therefore, Thai authorities need to take precautions to prevent it. The Thai health minister acknowledged that his ministry is joining forces with the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment and Agriculture and Cooperatives to prevent any recurrence of the H5N1 virus in the country, and that he is concerned over new outbreaks of the avian influenza in neighbouring Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia, where the death rate stands at 82 per cent on average, precautions in Thailand have, thus, covered both poultry at farms and wild ones. (TNA)