THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

Latest red alert provinces: Phichit, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Uttaradit, Nakhon Sawan and Nakhon Pathom.

If you compare this to the list from 22nd, two provinces are added (Kamphaeng Phaet and Nakhon Sawan) and two are removed (Suphanburi and Kanchanburi).

Regarding these four:
Kamphaeng (new): 1 suspected case announced yesterday.
Nakhon Sawan (new): 1 suspected case announced 4 days ago.
Suphanburi (old): 6 suspected cases announced yesterday
Kanchanburi (old): nothing announced

7 areas on red alert

Seven provinces have been labelled as bird-flu red zones where surveillance is being increased for the highly contagious disease.

They are Phichit, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Uttaradit, Nakhon Sawan and Nakhon Pathom.

Currently, 44 patients are under close supervision after developing symptoms similar to avian flu. Laboratory tests are ongoing to determine whether they have the lethal H5N1 virus, which killed a 17-year-old boy in Phichit on Monday.

The boy was first diagnosed with dengue fever and initial tests for bird flu were negative. After he died, a further test showed he was infected with the bird-flu virus.

Caretaker Public Health Minister Pinij Charusombat yesterday called on doctors across the country to carefully check patients with fever, especially those who had come into close contact with fowls.

The bird-flu victim's father said yesterday he doubted whether his son died from the virus, given the fact that the teenager's contact with a dead chicken took place last month.

Medical Sciences Department director-general Paijit Warachit said the victim's blood sample was undergoing another test to double-check whether he had dengue fever. The result should be available next week.

According to caretaker Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, the government paid out several billion baht last week as compensation for fowls exterminated last year as the country tried to curtail the spread of avian flu.

"If we take preventative measures at the beginning, we will be able to prevent outbreaks," she said.

She told authorities to immediately cull fowl suspected of having bird flu and to disinfect their areas.

 

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

BIRD FLU PHITSANULOK, PHICHIT RED ZONES

Five new patients suspected of having caught deadly H5N1

CHINNAWAT SINGHA

Five new patients in Phitsanulok and Phichit, the provinces declared bird flu red zones, are suspected to have caught the H5N1 virus, doctors said yesterday. The Public Health Ministry said 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 on Wednesday at Noen Maprang, Wang Thong and Ruam Phaet hospitals.

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.

Dr Bunchai said doctors had found seven suspected bird flu cases in Phitsanulok since the start of the year, but tests for all came back negative.

In Phichit, two patients, a 42-year-old woman from Sak Lek sub-district and a four-year-old girl from Thap Khlo district, fell sick after they touched dead chicken carcasses at their homes, according to Dr Sunee Theerakarunwong, director of 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.

Tawatch Suntracharn, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said Phichit has the highest number of suspected cases, with 15, followed by Sukhothai, 10, and Suphan Buri, seven.

Meanwhile, caretaker Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan told officials in bird flu zones to follow the ministry's avian flu control procedures to help control the disease spread.

 

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

More suspected bird flu cases tested
By Suzanne Nam 28 July 2006 01:32
Just two days after the death of the first human victim of bird flu this year, regional doctors say they are treating others with bird flu-like symptoms in the Central Plains region.

According to doctors at the Health Ministry, there were 21 patients in the region being tested for bird flu yesterday, although the ministry said initial observations indicate that it was unlikely any others had contracted the H5N1 avian virus.

?We have 21 suspected cases right now, but according to initial lab results we can rule it out in nine cases. The other 12 we will know about this morning,? said Dr Paijit Warachit, director general of the Department of Medical Sciences at the Health Ministry.

Dr Sunee Thirakarunwong, director of Phichit Hospital, said her hospital was currently treating two of the suspected bird flu patients. One, a 42-year-old woman from Sak Lek subdistrict in Phichit, told doctors that she fell ill after burying fighting cocks that had died mysteriously.

The other, a 78-year-old monk, had handled sick and dead birds at his temple, according to the doctor. At another hospital in the same province, a four-year-old girl known to have touched dead chickens was admitted yesterday with a high fever and respiratory distress.

Phichit has become the epicenter of the country?s latest bird flu outbreak following the death a 17-year-old boy on Wednesday and the detection of the disease in scores of birds in and around the province.

Yesterday government officials led by Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan met to formulate new measures for keeping the potentially deadly disease at bay.

Khunying Sudarat said she had ordered a thorough examination in addition to monitoring for bird flu in all areas previously affected by outbreaks.

Seven provinces in the Central Plains region, including Phichit, were recently designated bird flu hot spots by the ministry because of increased incidents of sick poultry and continued wet weather.

Hundreds of farm chickens have died in the Central Plains provinces in the past three weeks, although according to the ministry, yesterday?s confirmation is the first time bird flu has been found in birds in the kingdom since last December.

Since the first reported outbreak of bird flu in animals back in 2004, the ministry has culled millions of wild and farm birds.

With the addition of the latest victim this week, at least 23 people in Thailand have been infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus, resulting in 15 deaths.

Despite the new outbreak in animals, the death of the teenager, and more than 20 patients with suspicious symptoms, Dr Paijit said the ministry did not believe there would be more human cases.

?We are very concerned, but in the 12 cases where we are waiting for lab results, there is no strong clinical evidence of bird flu,? he said.

Bird flu, although fatal in more than half the patients who become infected, is very difficult to catch and has only been found in people who have been in very close contact with contaminated birds or, possibly, contaminated people, said the doctor.

 

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

If the Health Minister is visiting Udon Thani during such a massive health crisis in Phichit 150 miles away, you can excuse me for putting a placemark there too and hoping that when Theresa returns she can look for news from that area too.

http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=23663
Special medical team to treat bird flu cases UDON THANI, July 28 (TNA) - Thailand's Public Health Ministry Friday set up a special medical team to diagnose and prescribe treatment for new patients suspected of having caught the deadly bird flu virus, of which the number has been pushed to 44 nationwide.
Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat, visiting the northeastern Udon Thani Province on Friday, said the 44 bird flu suspects awaiting laboratory test results include 11 in Phichit and 10 in Sukhothai Province--both in the North--seven in the central Suphanburi Province and the rest are in other provinces in the North and Northeast.
The minister said he had signed the order to set up a special team of doctors to evaluate each patient and consider specialised medical treatments, including deciding which patient will be prescribed tamilflu -- in the circumstance that some patients may have a resistance to that drug.
Avian influenza control measures have been strengthened nationwide after new suspected bird flu cases were reported in many provinces, mostly in the lower North.
The latest bird flu victim was confirmed on Wednesday, the first human bird flu patient in the kingdom during the past one and a half years--since February 2005. (TNA)-E009

 

[Theresa42]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

If the Health Minister is visiting Udon Thani during such a massive health crisis in Phichit 150 miles away, you can excuse me for putting a placemark there too and hoping that when Theresa returns she can look for news from that area too.

There are reports of unusual poultry deaths in Nakhon Phanom province which is not all that far away from Udon Thani...

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=22241&postcount=23

Nakhon Phanom also borders on Laos.

 

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

Thanks T. 200 placemarks in Thailand later and it's still not even complete. I wonder how Thailand's mappers of the outbreaks are doing.

 

[Theresa42]

Small funeral for Yongyuth Daengmeesri / neighbors concerned about attending

Small funeral for Yongyuth Daengmeesri / neighbors concerned about attending

Machine-translated from Thai:

Villagers/neighbors frightened attend fever blood go out [dengue?] - bird flu - avoid attend ceremony corpse youth Phichit
โดย ผู้จัดการออนไลน์ 28 กรกฎาคม 2549 10:59 น.

Phichit - Funeral victim bird flu place Phichit be lonely villagers/neighbors frightened correct mosquito bite along with cause contagious fever blood go out [Kai leuat ok / ไข้ เลือด ออก - dengue?] - bird flu to the point of not dare attend listen monk pray.

Report news from province Phichit inform even though atmosphere in funeral victim bird flu case first of Thailand in task spread out around again this that place house number [snip] village Saai Dong at the present time 11 locality [?] district [?] province Phichit location corpse Mr. [name] there is honor atmosphere task pray for funeral everywhere 2 nights preceding there is monk come pray for funeral only 4 bodies and relatives close only not also person enter listen monk pray.

Cause happen task neighbor be afraid of that if come place listen monk pray and then will be correct mosquito bite and then will infect with expose blood go out [dengue?] again all fear will infect with bird flu then cause atmosphere be lonely.

For corpse of Mr. [name] there is honor person province Phichit place Sia Jaak virus bird flu person first of Thailand will perform [?] affair corpse in Saturday number 29 July 2549 that will even though this.

http://www.manager.co.th/Local/View...000096399&Keyword=%e4%a2%e9%cb%c7%d1%b4%b9%a1

 

[Jeremy]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/29Jul2006_news06.php
Mystery bird deaths spur cull

[SIZE=-1]POST REPORTERS[/SIZE]
<!--img--><!--/img-->Up to 12,000 chickens were culled yesterday in tambon Ban Klang of Nakhon Phanom's Muang district after thousands of poultry mysteriously died there. Provincial governor Nikhom Kerdkanmak said about 3,000 chickens had died from unknown causes on seven farms in the area on Wednesday. The cull was a preventive measure because Nakhon Phanom neighboured Laos where there had been recent bird flu outbreaks.


Samples of the carcasses have been sent for laboratory tests at the Centre for Veterinary Research and Development in Khon Kaen, he said.

Meanwhile, in Buri Ram, tests showed 25 people from six districts who were suspected of having bird flu did not have the deadly H5N1 virus.

Buri Ram health officer Vichai Kattiyavittayakul said the 25 patients who had developed bird flu-like symptoms after coming into contacts with chicken carcasses were from Muang, Phlapphlachai, Huai Rat, Prakhon Chai, Krasang and Ban Mai Chai Pot districts.


Public Health Minister Phinij Jarusombat said yesterday he would set up a special medical team to administer the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to suspected cases to prevent people from developing resistance to the drug.

The drug would be selectively given to only those who needed it, the minister said.


He made the remarks following reports that 44 patients in several provinces were suspected of being infected with bird flu.

Elsewhere, the Food and Agriculture Organisation's regional coordinator for avian influenza, Wantanee Kalpravidh, said samples of chicken carcasses sent by the Lao government had the deadly H5N1 strain. This was confirmed by tests at the Thai National Institute of Animal Health.

 

[Jeremy]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

Up to 12,000 chickens were culled yesterday in tambon Ban Klang of Nakhon Phanom's Muang district after thousands of poultry mysteriously died there. Provincial governor Nikhom Kerdkanmak said about 3,000 chickens had died from unknown causes on seven farms in the area on Wednesday. The cull was a preventive measure because Nakhon Phanom neighboured Laos where there had been recent bird flu outbreaks.

​

Make sure you add Ban Klang of Nakhon Phanom's Muang district to the list of places with H5N1 Bird Flu outbreaks. At this point we don't really need them to confirm these type of outbreaks, their actions speak for themselves.

 

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

Muang or Mueang apparently means "capital" in Thai, and so it refers to the capital province of Nakhon Phanom, in the east central part of the province. #1 in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Amphoe_Nakhon_Phanom.png.
Ironically it's twice as close to the Vietnamese border (70 miles) as it is to the reported outbreak in Laos (140 miles).

 

[Theresa42]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

No mention of dengue here....

Avian Influenza Update
3 August 2006
WHO Thailand

Confirmed human case (26 July 2006):

A 17 year old male from Tap Khlo district of Phichit province, had been infected with H5N1 and became Thailand?s latest casualty to the disease. The man fell ill July 15 and went to the district hospital with heavy coughing on July 18. A rapid test carried out that day was negative for influenza, chest x-ray was normal. He was sent home.

He returned to the hospital on July 20 with a temperature of 38.7 degree centigrade and was admitted for treatment. His conditions deteriorated on July 22 and he died on July 24. Three relatives and 37 medical personnels who cared for him during his illness are under observation but none show any symptoms so far. The victim had a history of contact with sick chickens having handled 10 dead poultry a week before he became ill.

http://w3.whothai.org/LinkFiles/Media_AI3Aug06.pdf

 

[hawkeye]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

Going with how BF went H2H in Indonesia in the past, the 3 relatives and 37 medical personnel should already be showing signs of infection, or will by mid next week.

 

[Siamese]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

Geez it's starting to look really bad over there.

 

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: THAILAND - Bird Flu Kills Man in Thailand's First Human Case in 7 Months

http:Z//www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/04/national/national_30010324.php


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=F6 vAlign=top>9-year-old girl from Lop Buri dies from 'suspected bird flu'

<!---- Photo ----><!---- Photo ---->A nine-year-old girl succumbed to suspected bird flu in a Lop Buri hospital yesterday morning. If laboratory tests confirm the disease, she will become the second human casualty here this year.


"She is the first suspected bird-flu patient in our province," Lop Buri public health chief Dr Pranom Kamtiang said yesterday. She said blood samples had already been sent for tests in Bangkok and the results should be available within 24 hours.

According to Pranom, public health officials have already inspected the girl's hometown in Khok Charoen district to find out if anyone else was similarly affected. She told journalists that bird-flu surveillance had been stepped up in other parts of the province.

"We have put 19 patients on the watch list," she said.

She let it be known that her department was working in tandem with livestock officials to find out if the disease was spreading in the province. Unlike its neighbouring province of Phetchabun, Lop Buri was not previously on the bird-flu watch list.

Lop Buri livestock chief Jintana Danwiwatporn yesterday insisted there had been no mass deaths of fowl in Khok Charoen district.

"Recently, some fowl died in Sa Bot district but lab tests ruled out bird flu," she said.

Jintana said she still could not understand why the girl had had the symptoms of bird flu. The girl's mother said there were dozens of home-raised fowl in her neighbourhoods but none of them had died.

"I saw my daughter playing with the birds but I never thought that would kill her," the grieving mother said.

According to her, her daughter had had a sore throat and been running a temperature since Monday. She gave her an antipyretic medicine but her condition did not improve.

On Tuesday, she sent her daughter to Khok Charoen Hospital, which referred her to Lop Buri Hospital on the same day because of the seriousness of her condition. Lop Buri Hospital kept the girl in a special zone for patients with severe viral or bacterial infections.

Despite the best efforts of the medical staff, the child died about 6.45am yesterday. Last month, a 17-year-old boy died of bird flu in Phichit.

In a related development, the Public Health Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Narongsak Angkhasuwaphala said all hospitals should strictly check patients with a high fever to prevent deaths and the spread of bird flu.

"If there are patients with bird-flu symptoms, relevant officials should be informed so that the necessary action is taken immediately," he said. According to him, 21 provinces in the country are associated with bird-flu risks.

According to official figures released on Tuesday, 164 patients were on the suspected bird-flu list. Of them, 107 were in Phichit.

Other provinces with reported suspected bird-flu cases include Sukhothai, Nan, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Kamphaeng Phet, Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai, Uttaradit, Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Pathom, Prachin Buri, Lampang, Nakhon Sawan and Nonthaburi.

In Sukhothai, more than 12,000 chicken in Sri Samrong were culled after some local fowl died en masse. Culling took place simultaneously in various areas in response to Sukhothai Governor Sukij Charoenrattanakul's instruction. In Surat Thani, 35 checkpoints were erected to prevent illegal transportation of fowl. Offenders, if convicted, will be fined up to Bt10,000 and jailed for a year.


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--------------close news --------------->