Five new patients in Phitsanulok and Phichit, the Thai provinces declared bird flu red zones, are suspected to have caught the deadly H5N1 virus, local media Friday reported.

The Thai Public Health Ministry was quoted by the Bangkok Post as saying the new cases pushed the number of suspected cases to 44 nationwide, all awaiting bird flu laboratory test results.

Bunchai Theerakan, acting chief of Phitsanulok Public Health Office, said three new patients in the province were admitted to local hospitals during the past two days.

They showed symptoms similar to influenza, and all had had direct contact with chicken in areas where mass chicken deaths were reported. The hospitals were waiting for blood test results.

In Phichit, two patients, a 42-year-old woman and a four-year- old girl, fell sick after they touched dead chicken carcasses at their homes, according to the Phichit Hospital.

Mysterious mass chicken deaths have also occurred in Phichit.

Five other provinces listed among the bird flu alert zones are Sukhothai, Uttaradit, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Pathom.

Source: Xinhua