Livestock officials report bird flu outbreak in ducks in northern Thailand
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — A fresh outbreak of virulent bird flu has been found in ducks in northern Thailand, the first in almost six months, officials said Monday.
The outbreak of the H5N1 virus was confirmed by laboratory tests after the deaths of more than 100 ducks was reported in Phitsanulok province, said Manet Runluang, an official at the Health Ministry’s Department of Communicable Disease Control.
“We have found the H5N1 virus in the ducks and we have ordered around 2,100 ducks in the area to be killed,” said Nirand Uaebumrungsut, a veterinarian with the Agriculture Ministry’s Department of Livestock Development.
He added the area has many wild and free-range ducks and the department has been gathering birds from within a 5-kilometer (3-mile) radius of the outbreak to be slaughtered.
Since it began ravaging Asia’s poultry in late 2003, the H5N1 bird flu virus has spread to the Middle East and Africa and killed at least 159 people around the world, according to the World Health Organization. There have been 17 human deaths in Thailand.
Most of those killed have been infected by sick birds, but WHO fears the virus could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, possibly sparking a pandemic.
Source: Associated Press