BANGKOK, 17 February 2004 — Asia’s bird flu crisis showed no sign of easing yesterday as new outbreaks of the disease that has left 20 people dead were reported across the region.
Thailand, which on Saturday confidently predicted it would have eradicated the disease by the end of the month, saw its campaign to wipe out bird flu suffer a setback with nine new outbreaks. Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said the outbreaks were discovered during testing of areas previously hit by avian influenza, the Thai News Agency reported.
“The second testing of 10,300 samples in 427 points across the country by seven testing centers and one institution found the bird flu in 14 points in nine provinces,” TNA quoted Newin as saying. The deputy minister reportedly ordered the immediate culling of all chickens within a one-kilometer radius of the points where bird flu had recurred.
In a separate development, Thai officials revealed the presence of the bird flu virus in a leopard, which died late last month in a zoo east of Bangkok. The new cases in Thailand, which has suffered six bird flu fatalities, came as a 15 year-old boy in Vietnam tested positive for the disease, taking the number of human infections in the country to 21 of whom 14 have died.
“The result of the test we obtained Saturday confirmed he was positive for H5N1,” said Dr. Nguyen Huu Tam, from Hanoi’s Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
“The boy was admitted to the hospital of Thanh Hoa province on February 10. He is now under respiratory assistance but he is getting better.” Bird flu has now struck 10 Asian nations, and has sparked alerts in neighboring regions determined to stop the disease from spreading. Health officials from seven South Asian nations claimed the entire region to be free of bird flu and demanded a blanket ban on the import of poultry products at an emergency meeting in New Delhi.
“Poultry and poultry products of this region are safe for human consumption,” the officials from the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation said in a statement.
Yesterday’s meeting unanimously called for a “temporary ban” on all poultry products, including vaccines. Warnings in China meanwhile were stepped up about the dangers posed by migratory birds, which will begin flocking to the country’s north next month, possibly carrying avian flu with them.
“Although there is not enough evidence to confirm that the migratory birds spread the deadly virus in China, they have been highly suspected by scientists,” said Lei Fumin, a bird researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Science.
Lei and his institute are conducting a research project, approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, into the origins of the H5N1 outbreak that has hit 16 of China’s 31 provinces and provincial-level municipalities.
The march of the disease shows no signs of slowing in China with seven more confirmed outbreaks and one new suspected outbreak reported yesterday, including the first confirmed case in Tibet. China has now tallied 41 confirmed and nine suspected outbreaks.
Lei was cited by the China Daily as saying the source of the outbreak in China could be found “maybe within one week.”
“Determining the source of the virus will contribute greatly to preventing and controlling the epidemic,” Lei said, noting it was proving an easier task than nailing down the source of last year’s SARS virus that swept the country.
