New Bird Flu Warning - Bangkok Included

[Gaybutton]

Just what Thailand needs on top of everything else! The following appears in THE NATION:

_____

 

Bird Flu Warning for 14 Provinces

 

Published on January 17, 2009

 

The Public Health Ministry has listed 14 provinces as at risk from a reappearance of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

 

"The cool weather provides a good environment for it," said deputy permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit.

 

He named Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Lop Buri, Chai Nat, Prachin Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen and Nong Bua Lamphu.

 

Paijit said he had instructed health officers known as "Mr. Bird Flu" across the country to monitor for avian flu and infection in humans, especially in provinces where the virus appeared frequently.

 

He said the ministry was bringing in stricter controls, even though H5N1 infection in humans had not been reported for three years.

 

Measures include rapid detection and reporting of infection, rapid primary spreading control, sampling, containment training, laboratory preparation and information on prevention.

 

He said national strategy covered poultry farming, surveillance, prevention of human and animal infection and pandemic preparedness.

 

The World Health Organisation says 61 countries are infected. Thailand has seen 25 human cases, of whom 17 have died.

[KhorTose]

Let me see now. In Thailand I can catch, dengue fever, malaria, Japanese enchiphalitis, Typhoid fever, Hepatis A, B, & C, HIV, and now the often fatal bird flu. That is assuming I do not get bit by a cobra, eaten by a tiger, fall(?) from my balcony (with or without handcuffs), or shot by a police officer.

 

Tell me again why I like Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, now I remember

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Let me see now. In Thailand I can catch, dengue fever, malaria, Japanese enchiphalitis, Typhoid fever, Hepatis A, B, & C, HIV, and now the often fatal bird flu. That is assuming I do not get bit by a cobra, eaten by a tiger, fall(?) from my balcony (with or without handcuffs), or shot by a police officer.

 

Tell me again why I like Thailand.

Oh, now I remember

Don't forget getting hit by a bus, car or motorbike while attempting the cross the street.

[Guest MonkeySee]

This just reported in China:

 

BEIJING – A 2-year-old girl in northern China has tested positive for bird flu and is in critical condition — the second case of human infection in a month.

 

The girl fell ill on Jan. 7 in central Hunan province and was taken to a hospital by her grandparents four days later after she returned home to Shanxi province, the Health Ministry said in a notice on its Web site late Saturday.

 

Tests confirmed she was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus, it said. It did not say how the girl, surnamed Peng, was infected or what she was doing in Hunan.

 

"The patient is in critical condition, and the health department of Shanxi province is sparing no efforts" to save the girl, the notice said.

 

All the people who had close contact with the girl were under medical observation, the ministry said, and no one else has been found ill.

 

The case comes at a worrisome time for authorities as tens of millions of people are on the move between cities and rural hometowns for Chinese New Year, which begins on Jan. 26. The Agricultural Ministry has said it will step up checks before the holiday.

 

China, which raises more poultry than any other country, has vowed to aggressively fight the virus.

 

A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization in Beijing said it was informed of the case and was staying in close contact with the Health Ministry.

 

Earlier this month a 19-year-old woman died from the bird flu virus in a Beijing hospital after contact with ducks in a market in a neighboring province, the first death from bird flu since February last year. The WHO said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.

 

Health officials worry the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that could spread easily among people.

 

According to the latest WHO tally, bird flu has killed 248 people worldwide since 2003, including 21 in China. The young girl brings the total number of cases in the country to 32.