Bird flu, death toll reaches 20

Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 15 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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As Thailand announced its sixth death from Bird Flu (avian flu) the death toll in Asia has reached 20 (known cases). The UN says this disease is going to take a while to clear up.

Thailand's latest victim, the second in a week, was a 13-year-old boy from northeastern Chaiyaphum province who had fallen ill after burying chickens that had died at his home, an official said.

The boy died Saturday evening, after being hospitalized late last month and diagnosed with the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Thursday.

'His condition did not improve after weeks at hospital, and it worsened Saturday until doctors could no longer help him,' Visit Tangnapakorn, director of Chaiyaphum's provincial health authority, said.

'He had chickens at home, and they died in late January and the boy was the one who buried them,' he said. 'The contact with those chickens was the reason he got sick.'

China meanwhile reported four new confirmed outbreaks Saturday, as analysts warned of multi-billion-dollar losses in the country's poultry sector.

And, with Thailand and Vietnam aiming to conquer bird flu by the end of the month, United Nations agencies warned the disease could take months, if not years, to eradicate.

The outbreak of H5N1 has led Vietnam, where 14 people have died from bird flu, to cull 35 million chickens and inflicted devastating losses on local poultry farmers.

But officials have suggested poultry sales could be allowed to resume in March.

The United Nations' World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) both warned though that hopes for a quick recovery of Vietnam's poultry industry were premature.

'We believe the outbreak won't be eradicated for several months, probably years,' WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said.

Ways of effectively controlling the outbreak were only now being put in place, said FAO representative in Hanoi, Anton Rychener.

'We are right now only starting the engine to control the outbreak,' he said. 'It will be long. I am not sure the government has admitted this reality.'

Efforts against the disease must continue, said the UN agency's chief spokesman Peter Cordingley.

'Even though there are fewer people infected we still have to maintain the culls,' he said. 'There's no question that this must continue until every last infected bird has been killed. 'It could take as long as six months for that to happen.'

Despite the UN agencies' warnings, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to be cowed by the disease's continued threat.

'I hope that by the end of February the bird flu could be eradicated,' Mr Thaksin said in his weekly radio address.

The FAO estimates some 80 million chickens and other fowl have now been culled to contain the disease, various strains of which have struck 10 Asian nations and the United States.

Despite regional efforts at containment, China's announcement of four new confirmed outbreaks showed the disease was continuing to spread.

China now has 34 confirmed and 13 suspected outbreaks and seems worried the disease could reach Beijing after hitting the city of Tianjin, only 100km away.