Reporters and officials look into a pit with 2,500 chickens culled from 12 villages in Phitsanulok’s Noen Maprang district yesterday after mass deaths of fowl were reported in Tambon Bannoi Sumkheelek.

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.