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Thailand confirms sixth bird flu case

Migratory birds apparently from Bangladesh test H5N1 -positive

Reuters, Bangkok
A 13-year-old boy has been confirmed as Thailand's sixth human case of bird flu and the government was culling any birds testing positive in random checks nationwide, officials said yesterday.
"Yes, that is correct," Charal Trinwuthipong, chief of the Department of Disease Control, told Reuters when asked if the boy had tested positive for the deadly virus that has killed at least 19 people in Asia, including five Thais.
Another official said the boy had been in hospital since January 29 and was in critical condition.
The virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, suspected to have been spread by migrating birds, has broken out in eight Asian countries, devastating poultry flocks.
Thai officials said three migratory birds tested in the central region, an area used by birds from Bangladesh, tested positive for the H5N1 virus.
"We have to conduct random checks on these birds nationwide and will kill those testing positive," Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa told reporters.
Of the five Thai deaths, four were boys between the ages of six and seven. The other was a 58-year-old woman.
The human victims are believed to have caught the disease from contact with sick chickens, but fears persist that the bird flu virus could combine with a human flu virus and mutate into a deadly disease that could be passed between people.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it expects more people to be infected by the virus beyond Vietnam and Thailand.
The U.N. agency criticised afflicted countries Tuesday for putting business before human health in the fight against bird flu. It said Thailand, the world's fourth largest chicken exporter, may be rushing to declare its outbreak over.
But Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak rejected the charge, saying the government, which plans to clear the last of 163 "red zones" this week, had not acted recklessly.
Somkid said the government would continue its mass cull if new infections were found in former red zones - the five-km (three-mile) areas around confirmed outbreaks within which the government ordered the slaughter of all poultry.
"I think we can contain the out-breakfor now," Somkid said.
"If we find positive results from the second round of tests on animals due this Sunday, we will do the same as we did last time," Somkid said referring to mass culling.