Deadly H5N1 bird flu erupts again in Thailand, China

The strain of bird flu that killed 24 people in Southeast Asia early this year has erupted again in Thailand and China, but authorities in b...

The strain of bird flu that killed 24 people in Southeast Asia early this year has erupted again in Thailand and China, but authorities in both countries said on Wednesday the outbreaks were under control.

Thailand said it had confirmed outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, at two farms north of Bangkok. China said the virus had struck a farm in central Anhui province, 300 kms west of Shanghai. Both governments were quick to add that the new outbreaks were being dealt with decisively and a repeat of the epidemic that swept across much of Asia earlier this year was unlikely.

That outbreak killed 16 people in Vietnam and eight in Thailand. About 100 million fowl died or were culled, more than 40 million of them in Thailand, which had been the world’s fourth-largest chicken exporter. ‘‘The outbreak in Anhui is now under control,’’ said the China News Service website. Nevertheless, a provincial official said the family that owned the infected farm and those in close contact with them had been isolated and were under observation.

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Officials ordered the culling of all poultry within a three-kilometre radius of the farm. Poultry within a five-kilometre radius were being vaccinated.

‘‘Next we will strengthen quarantining of local agricultural product markets to prevent the spread of bird flu to human beings,’’ said the official. In southern Guangdong, the provincial administration for entry-exit inspection and quarantine urged farms supplying poultry to neighbouring Hong Kong and Macau, to guard against their stocks coming in contact with wild birds, Xinhua said. —(Reuters)

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