Respiratory Case in Eastern Thailand Tested for Bird Flu
Recombinomics Commentary
January 20, 2005
>> Public health authorities are closely monitoring a patient on the bird flu watch list after the Livestock Development Department confirmed the first outbreak this year in chickens.
The man, aged 44, was sent to a Chon Buri hospital on Monday with a respiratory infection. He fell sick after attending cock-fights in Rayong's Klaeng district, where the virus has re-emerged.
Lab test results to be released today will confirm whether the patient's symptoms were actually due to infection with the bird flu virus, Kamnuan Ungchusak, head of the Epidemiology Bureau, said. It was still unknown if two fighting cocks were infected with bird flu <<
Testing of patients with respiratory disease in districts with known H5N1 infections is a wise decision. In view of the spread of bird flu in Vietnam in people, pets, and poultry, respiratory patients in districts in Thailand impacted by last season's infections should also be tested.
The finding of H5N1 in 13 fighting cocks in the Ravong district suggests all fighting cocks in Thailand should be screened.
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