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Over 122K Quail Die from H5N1 Bird Flu in Thailand
Recombinomics Commentary
July 15, 2005
In this week's OIE report Thailand described the death of over 122,000 quail in the Maung District of Supanburi. Almost 15,000 had died and the remainder culled. The H5N1 bird flu outbreak began on July 7 and was H5N1 confirmed on July 14. H5N1 was also found in native chickens and broilers in 3 other villages in the same district.
On July 10 Thailand had commented on the death of 10 fighting cocks and indicated H5N1 bird flu would be contained. There was no mention of the deaths of the quails in the same area, although massive die-offs were seen in six other provinces,
The large number of bird deaths in these villages suggest H5N1 is far from contained in Thailand and a new wave of human and bird H5N1 is beginning. Thailand has yet to report any 2005 human cases, although the Manila report indicated H5N1 in Thailand this year is similar to H5N1 in northern Vietnam, where most testing confirms that H5N1 is more easily transmitted human-to-human in northern Vietnam.
Monotoring of H5N1 in birds and humans in Asia remains scandalously poor.
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