Re: Thailand 8/02 -
Re: Thailand 8/02 -
Man quarantined for H5N1 [SIZE=-1]
Hospital in Bangkok awaits detailed lab test[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
SUPOJ WANCHAROEN[/SIZE]
<!--img--><!--/img-->A male patient was quarantined in Bangkok yesterday after preliminary tests at a hospital showed he had the bird flu virus in his blood, deputy city clerk Pitinan Natrujiroj said yesterday. He said the hospital was waiting for detailed laboratory test results to confirm whether the man had caught bird flu.
The patient is a 37-year-old man from Sathon district. He was admitted to Phetchavej Hospital in Wattana district on Aug 2 and had reportedly touched a pigeon. Detailed lab tests are expected to be released in a week, said Mr Pitinan.
A female patient who had been quarantined earlier in Taling Chan district was found to only have influenza, he said.
Renewed outbreaks of bird flu in poultry and suspected human cases in several provinces have hit the country's poultry markets that are usually bustling on the eve of Chinese All Souls Day today.
Orn-araya and Jintana Thongprathuang, sisters who sell processed fresh chicken at Klong Toey market, said their income yesterday plunged about 70% from the same day a year ago as they sold fewer chickens while market prices for processed fresh chickens had slumped over 20%.
Last year, they sold almost 300 chickens on the eve of All Souls Day alone as opposed to just over 100 yesterday. Prices for whole chickens have to about 80 baht.
Ms Orn-araya said she was confident that poultry at Klong Toey market was free from the avian flu virus due to stringent preventive measures.
The chickens are from farms in Nakhon Pathom and Chachoengsao and only delivery trucks with permits to transport poultry from the Livestock Department are allowed to enter the market.
Ms Jintana added that workers also cleaned the market with chlorine and other disinfectants supplied by the Livestock Department twice a week.
Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin inspected the city's major poultry abattoirs in Soi Mangkorn and Leng Buai Iah Market in the Yaowarat area.
After the visit, Mr Apirak said sanitary procedures practised by all abattoirs in the area met city standards.
However, the governor said abattoirs should be relocated to non-residential areas to help prevent the virus being passed on to humans.
Another measure was to have fresh markets sell only cooked chickens.
Mr Apirak said the city had continuously implemented bird flu prevention measures since last year, particularly in districts with a high poultry density such as Klong Sam Wa, Nong Chok, Min Buri, Saphan Sung, Lat Krabang, and those on the Thon Buri side as well as where bird flu outbreaks were reported two years ago.
The city had also set up three checkpoints to stop unlicensed trucks carrying in poultry from provinces such as Suphan Buri, Chachoengsao and Nakhon Pathom, to Bangkok, he said.
Meanwhile, caretaker Public Health Minister Phinij Jarusombat yesterday said the recent H5N1 human fatality, a 17-year-old who from Phichit, died as a result of bird flu alone.
Previously, he was thought to have contracted haemorrhagic fever in combination with bird flu.
Mr Phinij insisted no new strains of H5N1 had developed and that the oseltamivir drug still worked effectively in humans against the virus.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Aug2006_news11.php <!--/Content-->
