Phitsanulok - New outbreak of bird flu

[dirtydog]

Fresh outbreak of bird flu reported in Phitsanulok


Livestock Department has ordered slaughter of about 1,900 ducks of a farm in Phitsanulok province on Monday after finding a fresh outbreak of bird flu virus there.


The department said it has put under control the virus and did not find the spreading of the virus in the five kilometre radius from the farm which was in Tambon Plaichumpon, Muang district, Methee Ketadisorn, provincial livestock chief said.
The fresh outbreak is the first in almost six months, he said. Officials found the outbreak during a routine inspection at the farms in the province.
The re-emerging of outbreak of the H5N1 virus was confirmed by laboratory tests after the deaths of more than 100 ducks was reported at a farm in the province.
"We have found the H5N1 virus in the ducks and we have ordered around 1,932 ducks in the area to be killed," Methee said.
He added that it was lucky that we found the virus so quickly that we managed the virus in time.

The Nation

[hillbilly]

The family says impossible. Give me a day or two to sort things out. Will let you know...

[Rigger]

The family says impossible

Why impossible ???

[dirtydog]

CENTRAL REGION, UPPER NORTH
Alert for re-emergence of bird-flu


Fowl culled after tests show ducks died of virus; next 60 days critical, experts say



The deadly bird-flu virus has re-emerged in Phitsanulok where more than 2,000 fowl have been culled, a Livestock Development Department senior official said yesterday.

The department's Disease Control and Veterinary Service Bureau chief Nirandorn Uangtrakoonsuk confirmed labo-ratory tests showed at least two ducks died of the virus in Plai Chumphon.

"We conducted lab tests after we received reports ducks had died en masse," he said. The cull was car-ried out last Friday.

Nirandorn said the area would be watched closely for the next 30 days. Prior to these infections Thailand had been clear of the virus for 160 days.

The Public Health Ministry's Department of Disease Control is monitoring the province and Suphan Buri.

"Infections in birds in Suphan Buri and ducks in Phitsanulok are warning signs for us to X-ray [for the virus] to the maximum extent," department head Dr Thawat Suntrajarn said.

January to February was a critical period for possible re-emergence of the virus and the department was on high alert in 36 provinces, he said.

"We're waiting for the livestock department to confirm if bird deaths in the two provinces were caused by the flu virus," said Thawat. To prevent illness and death from a new wave of bird flu the department may declare red zones in provinces previously affected by flu.

"We're in the 60 dangerous days," he said, adding that surveillance measures would be beefed up during this period.

Bureau of Epidemiology head Dr Kumnuan Ungchusak said disease-control units in Phitsanulok have visited areas where people had flu-like symptoms or reports of poultry deaths - since late December.

Thawat and Kumnuan said no people had tested positive yet for the flu.

Kumnuan said this was the peri-od of highest risk because cool weather made it easier for the virus - believed to be endemic in the country - to spread.

In addition, Chinese New Year celebrations next month will see large numbers of poultry slaugh-tered and transported.

The persistent spread of bird flu in neighbouring countries like Indonesia increased the chances of the virus re-emerging here, Thawat said.
Last week, China reported a human bird-flu fatality. That coun-try has not reported an outbreak since 2005.


Arthit Khwankhom,

Manatchai Ananta
The Nation

[dirtydog]

Hunt for 2 workers from bird-flu farm


Phitsanulok health officials are searching for two farm workers who disappeared from the duck farm where the bird-flu virus was found.



The two men went missing some time after the infection was detected on the farm in Tambon Chumpol of the province's Muang district on Monday, said Kitti Puthikanont, acting head of the Disease Control Division 9 in Phitsanulok.

The two were among three workers hired to take care of around 2,000 ducks at the farm before about 100 birds fell dead and were later found by livestock authorities to have the H5N1 strain of bird flu, he said.

Neither of them were checked if they had the virus despite having lived and worked inside the farm where the ducks were raised, said Public Health Minister Dr Mongkol na Songkhla.

Three others - two farm owners and a hired worker who also lived at the farm - were under a bird-flu observation programme, Kitti said.

Mongkol ordered the Phitsanulok disease control division to search for the missing men to ensure they were safe from the bird-flu virus, saying the two men might have just been frightened by the ducks dying of bird flu.

Kitti said some ducks had started dying in October and there were a huge number of deaths on January 9 when the farm reported to the provincial livestock authorities.

The Department of Livestock Development confirmed on Monday ducks at the Phitsanulok farm died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu. All remaining ducks were then culled and buried.

People who work in close contact with poultry and the transporting and slaughtering of poultry for food were of particular concern during this bird-flu alert period, said Mongkol.

Media campaigns on how to avoid getting bird flu were needed to raise public awareness, especially for the above-mentioned group of people, the minister said.

Education about bird flu had been done extensively since the first wave of bird-flu epidemics in 2004 and the public seemed to be well aware of the disease, he said.

"However, others are afraid to report to the authorities right at the beginning for fear of losing their animals," Mongkol said.

As for the high-risk group, including poultry farm workers and disease control teams, about 300,000 doses of human influenza vaccine were available for free at all provincial health offices, said Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, head of Disease Control Department.

The Public Health Ministry said it had stockpiles of about 800,000 tablets of the anti-virus oseltamiar (or Tamiflu) to treat up to 80,000 patients in the event of human infection.

About 800,000 health volunteers across the country were also ordered to stay on high alert and look for signs of bird flu in their communities to prevent the further spread of the virus to humans, said Mongkol.

Livestock Department head Yukol Limlamthong said separately that authorities were going to closely watch for bird flu during the upcoming Chinese New Year festival, which usually sees brisk trade of fowls across the country.

"We will step up preventative measures during the festival and other periods marked with extensive movements of birds," Yukol said.

Ethnic Chinese usually buy chickens and ducks as cooked offerings for Chinese New Year rites.

Yukol said his department was going to inspect slaughterhouses to ensure they would not spread the deadly virus. He said the Agriculture Ministry hoped to detect bird-flu at no more than 10 locations this year.

Currently, lab tests have confirmed there were bird-flu infections at a duck farm in Phitsanulok's Muang district. The whole district was now declared a "bird-flu outbreak zone", which barred poultry from being moved in or out.
The neighbouring province of Phichit has now set up checkpoints to prevent fowl being moved there.


Arthit Khwankhom
The Nation

[dirtydog]

PHitsanulok livestock officials take anal swabs of poultry at a farm in Muang district yesterday as authorities monitor the situation in a bid to prevent the spread of bird flu.

The Nation

[dirtydog]

Four suspected of having bird flu in Phitsanulok

bangkokpost.com

Four members of a family in Phitsanulok are suspected to be infected with avian flu after they ate a dead duck from their farm.

Dr Thawatchai Kamoltham, the Phitsanulok provincial health chief, said Thursday that health authorities had declared the dark farm in Tambon Tortae, Wat Bot district, off-limits for two weeks as a precaution. About 600 ducks in the farm have been slaughtered, he said, there are also about 30 pigs in the farm which may have contracted bird flu.

He disclosed that there are many herds of free rang ducks within one kilometre radius from the farm which need to be closely monitored.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health has instructed all provincial health officials to keep close watch on bird flu outbreak in their respective provinces now and in the next two months which are considered as risky period when bird flu usually spreads out.

Precautions undertaken include: monitoring of poultry in farms by volunteers and alerting health authorities in case there are unusual death of the birds; sick birds will first be assumed as infected with bird flu and that all hospitals must treat patients with bird flu symptoms as suspected bird flu cases.

[Gerbil]

PHitsanulok livestock officials take anal swabs of poultry

I wonder what their job title is? "Duck arse wiper?"

[dirtydog]

Bird-flu vaccine not necessary yet: official



The bird-flu vaccine is not necessary for the country's current situation, Agriculture Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Yukol Limlamthong said Thursday.

He was referring to a conclusion from Wednesday's meeting of a committee tasked with finding out how to tackle bird-flu problem. Earlier this month, bird-flu infections were detected at a duck farm in Phitsanulok.

So far, Yukol said the committee believed the situation was still under control.

"But if needs arise, the vaccine should be used as a supplementary measure," he said.

The Nation

[Anonymous Coward]

BKK Post:

Four members of a family in Phitsanulok are suspected to be infected with H5N1 avian flu after they ate a dead duck from their farm.

Amazing. You think they just had never heard about bird flu or decided to chance it this one time or did they just place all in Buddha's hands?

[dirtydog]

Four members of a family in Phitsanulok are suspected to be infected with avian flu

Plus the 2 that done a runner.

The bird-flu vaccine is not necessary for the country's current situation

6 potential deaths aint a lot I suppose.

[Marmite the Dog]

Four members of a family in Phitsanulok are suspected to be infected with avian flu after they ate a dead duck from their farm.

Amazing! They catch it from eating the duck as opposed to catching as an air-bourne virus like everyone else!

[dirtydog]

No need to vaccinate birds for flu: ministry


Thailand does not need to vaccine poultry against bird flu because the situation remains under control, despite another outbreak of the troubling disease, Agriculture Ministry deputy permanent secretary Yukol Limlamthong said yesterday.

Yokul said a committee set up to find ways to deal with bird flu had concluded that vaccinating poultry was unnecessary.


Earlier this month, a new outbreak of the disease was detected at a duck farm in Phitsanulok.

Yukol said the committee concluded the situation remained under control.

"But if the need arises, the vaccine should be used as a supplementary measure," he said.

The Livestock Development Department is developing laboratory to produce a vaccine for the strain of bird flu prevalent in Thailand.

"The research should be completed within two months," Yokul said, adding that the vaccine

would be used only if an outbreak virus spreads
dramatically.

The Nation

[dirtydog]

26 suspected bird-flu cases detected in Phitsanulok


Phitsanulok - A total of 26 suspected bird-flu cases are being closely watched in this northern province, a the chief public health officer of the province said Friday.

Doctor Thawatchai Kamoltham, chief Phitsanulok public health officer, said 15 of the 26 people under close watch for possible bird-flu contacting were officials taking part in culling infected fowls.

The rest were villagers from three districts of Muang, Wat Bote and Bang Rakam, Thawatchai said.

Only three of the 26 have been admitted to hospitals while the rest were being closely monitored at their home.

The Nation

[stroller]

Four members of a family in Phitsanulok are suspected to be infected with avian flu after they ate a dead duck from their farm.

Amazing! They catch it from eating the duck as opposed to catching as an air-bourne virus like everyone else!

I thought processed food is safe? I don't think airbourne is the only way of transmission.
They more likely got infected from handling, preparing or being in the kitchen at the time, I'd say.

[dirtydog]

A lot of the cases were due to the birds not being cooked properly cos they aint got proper ovens, maybe time for you to upgrade your kitchen stroller

[dirtydog]

Health ministry pinched on bird flu care

By Apiradee Treerutkuarkul

A cash crunch means no patient isolation wards in state hospitals. The wards, technically called "negative pressure rooms," are essential for separating patients put on the bird flu watch-list.
The wards are needed to prevent the possibility of any human-to-human transmission of the virus.

The setting up of influenza isolation wards in community hospitals is also part of the ministry's wider preparedness plan to prevent a bird flu pandemic.

So far, most community hospitals have no such wards as they lack the budget to set them up, said Boonchai Somboonsook, deputy chief of the Health Service Department overseeing the project.

At the moment, altogether only 61 provincial hospitals have these wards, he said.

The previous government last year approved a 40-million-baht budget for the purpose. Each room in an isolation ward costs around 200,000 baht to install, and there are only 200 such rooms in 918 community hospitals across the country.

The budget had been allocated for distribution to local administrative bodies, which were in turn expected to pass it on to community hospitals in their areas. But only a few hospitals have managed to introduce them so far, said Dr Boonchai.

He said since a standard size isolation ward can cost up to two million baht to build, most hospitals could, therefore, build only a small one, and that too was an adapted version of the isolation room for tuberculosis patients.

Dr Boonchai said he would recommend community hospitals, which have yet to receive a budget, to immediately ask for additional financial assistance from local administration bodies to establish the bird flu isolation wards to comply with the ministry's flu pandemic prevention policy.

He has not set any deadlines for the hospitals. But provincial hospitals affected by the re-emergence of the deadly disease, such as in Phitsanulok, Phichit and Suphanburi, have been asked to have them up and running as soon as possible, he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, a negative pressure room should be available at each hospital for isolating patients with bird flu symptoms.

The air, flowing one-way in these special wards, is sterilised and reduces the possibility of the virus circulating in the air. The room is also equipped with a disinfectant ventilation system.

The country is currently experiencing its fifth bird flu outbreak since Jan 15, when the H5N1 virus was first detected in a duck farm in Phitsanulok province.

Since 2004, Thailand has reported 25 human bird flu cases - 17 of them fatal.

Bangkok Post