A new bird flu outbreak has been detected at a farm in Thailand's lower northern province Nakhon Sawan, but no human infection was found by far, Thai livestock officials said Thursday.
Laboratory tests have found the H5N1 virus in dead chicken samples from a farm in Chumsaeng district, Nakhon Sawan on Jan. 22,according to Sakchai Sriboonsue, director-general of Thailand's Livestock Development Department under the Agriculture Ministry, quoted by Thai News Agency.
Hundreds of chickens died suspiciously on Jan. 18 at the Sri Thai Farm and the farm owner informed local animal husbandry officials to collect samples of dead chickens for lab tests.
Nearly 10,000 chickens at the farm were culled on Jan. 22 and disinfectant was sprayed throughout nearby areas.
Sakchai, while traveling to the infected chicken farm, said that some 60,000 birds raised in all the four breeding buildings at the farm would be culled Thursday, and all poultry within a 10-kilometer radius were forbidden to be moved for at least 30 days.
Sakchai said though the avian influenza virus was found on hens at only one of the four breeding buildings, all poultry raised at the farm would be destroyed as a precaution.
Officials have now ordered a quarantine of all avian livestock and requested the blanket disinfections of all poultry farms in the area within a five-kilometer radius of the infected farm. Consumers were also warned to ingest only properly cooked chicken meat.
Livestock workers collected cloacal swab samples from live poultry within the radius and sent for laboratory testing.
Police will set up checkpoints to prevent poultry to transferred out of the area.
It is the first outbreak of bird flu detected in Thailand since the beginning of this year. The most recent big outbreak was reported in March 2007 in northeastern province of Mukdahan bordering Laos.
Last September, the lower northern province Phichit also reported detection of the H5N1 virus that killed dozens of chickens raised by a villager.
The latest wave of bird flu outbreaks in Thailand since 2004 has seen 25 people infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, 17 of whom died.
Dr. Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general of Thailand's Disease Control Department under the Public Health Ministry, confirmed that test samples in the laboratory found that the dead chicken had contracted the H5N1 virus.
Initial reports indicated no villager in 35 nearby villages had contracted the disease so far, Dr. Thawat said, adding that health officials had been monitoring a possible arrival of the disease since the beginning of winter.
Dr. Thawat said his subordinates had coordinated with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration authorities to inspect slaughterhouses in the capital to prevent the spreading of the disease.
He urged consumers to carefully inspect chicken meat before buying, noting that members of the public, especially those of ethnic Chinese origin, would consume a lot of chicken during the upcoming Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 7.
Virologist Professor emeritus Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen said it is difficult for the disease to be detected in closed facilities. He advised authorities in other provinces to monitor their farms closely and to notify provincial officials immediately if chickens in their provinces died suspiciously.
Source: Xinhua
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