A man suspected of having infected with bird flu virus in central Thailand has been cleared of the deadly disease, according to local press reports Wednesday.

Laboratory tests by the Medical Sciences Department confirmed that the man, who fell ill after contacting with dead chickens in Kanchanaburi, has not been infected with H5N1.

The 48 year-old villager in Phanom Thuan district developed bird flu-like symptoms and was sent to local hospital several days after slaughtering chickens for his neighbors.

"We found he developed a lung infection with symptoms that were very similar to bird flu. But I would like to confirm that at the moment there is no confirmed human case of bird flu," the Medical Sciences Department chief Paijit Warachit was quoted by Bangkok Post as saying.

The patient was transferred to a provincial hospital on Monday since his condition did not improve through treatment.

The suspicious case came as vigilance over bird flu heightened following the spread of the H5N1 strain of the virus to Europe last week, with confirmed cases in Romania and Turkey for the first time.

On Monday, livestock officials destroyed 364 free-range chickens raised by villagers in the district after many were found to have died of bird flu.

The area was hit by the virus last year and it was the location of the first confirmed case in humans in Thailand.

Thailand has been on high alert for avian flu after a number of outbreaks in poultry and wild birds have been confirmed in several parts of the kingdom.

In Ratchaburi's Muang district, sparrows were found to succumb to bird flu Monday. Samples of fowl taken from chickens being raised in 26 villages around site of outbreak have been sent for lab testing.

Since early October, bird flu virus have been identified in several central provinces such as Kamphaeng Phet and Nakhon Pathom.

In Kanchanaburi, about 200 chickens were founded dead last week in Phanom Thuan district, a declared disease quarantine area, about 110 kilometers west of Bangkok.

To minimized the chance of further outbreak, the live stock department has ordered disinfection of all chicken farms in nine risky provinces.

This week, the department will carry out a third round of checks for the H5N1 virus in poultry as well as wild and migratory birds to prevent the spread of the fatal virus. All areas in the country have been thoroughly checked twice this year.

Public Health Minister Suchai Charoenratanakul has urged people not to be panic about a possible human pandemic, saying the ministry would be able to control the epidemic.

Some 1,300 rapid deployment units have been set up to monitor outbreaks among poultry and contain its spread. Health and livestock officials in each province were ordered to check up on any suspected cases of bird flu and report their findings within 24 hours.

From January up until last Monday, seven suspected cases of bird flu in humans have been found in four provinces, including three in Kamphaeng Phet, two in Sukhothai and one each in Nakhon Pathom and Sing Buri, according to the bird flu monitoring center at the Public Health Ministry.

Thailand's last human bird flu fatality took place on Oct. 8, 2004. Twelve Thais were among the more than 60 deaths in Southeast Asia since late 2003.

Source: Xinhua