Phitsanulok livestock officials bury thousands of dead chickens from eight villages in Tambon Tha Muen Ram after the area was devastated by bird flu. Thailand last week confirmed its first human victim from the outbreak.

More than 1,200 livestock offi-cials yesterday slaughtered as many as 300,000 fowl in Nakhon Phanom where a bird-flu outbreak has been detected.

Culling commenced immediately following the discovery of the virus at an egg producer. It is the first case this year of the disease in commercial birds. Until now, it had been found only in domestic fowl.

The bird-flu virus killed a teenage boy in Phichit last week.

Nakhon Phanom Governor Nikom Khanmark yesterday ordered the immediate culling of fowls within a five-kilometre radius from where the H5N1 virus was detected in Tambon Na Klang, Muang district.

At the same time, Nakhon Phanom health chief Dr Denchai Sornkij said chicken farmers and others who had come into contact with fowl in the province were being monitored for bird-flu symptoms.

 "We have dispatched volunteers and officials door-to-door to see if household members are suffering from fever and a cough," Denchai said. Daily reports were being received.

Livestock Development De-partment director general Yukol Limlamthong said transporting birds in and out of Nakhon Phanom was prohibited.

"We have checkpoints to prevent the transport of fowl, especially along borders with neighbouring countries," he said.

Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Prat Boonyawong-virot said there were now 80 patients in 19 provinces on the official bird-flu watch list.

Of these, 18 were in Phichit, 14 in Sukhothai, nine each in Phitsanulok and Suphan Buri, seven in Nan, four in Nakhon Sawan, three each in Phetchabun and Uttaradit, and

two each in Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi.

Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Kamphaeng Phet, Chachoengsao, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani, Prachin Buri, Lamphun and Uthai Thani each had one.

"We are waiting for lab-test results to determine if these patients have bird flu," Prat said, adding one of the suspected patients was just 11 months old.

Medical Sciences Department director general Dr Paijit Warachit said recent lab results had not found any new cases of bird-flu in humans.

"More than half the tests show suspected patients have common influenza," he said.

Paijit would overhaul bird-flu testing to ensure results within 24 hours and proper and complete specimens were collected.

"We will distribute CDs showing how to collect specimens. For example, mucus can be used for bird-flu lab tests, but not saliva," he said.

According to Paijit, initial tests were unable to detect the virus from a specimen provided by the Phichit victim because it was unfit for analysis.

Doctors treated the boy based on symptoms more indicative of dengue fever than bird flu, he said.

"Unlike normal bird-flu symptoms, this patient did not wheeze and X-ray results showed his lungs were normal. We have to empathise with the doctors," Paijit said in response to criticism the boy may have lived if he had been properly diagnosed.

Paijit said tests would discover if the victim suffered simultaneously from dengue fever and bird flu.

"This should be a case study if the patient had both bird flu and dengue fever, or if he had bird flu alone," he said.

The victim would undergo a post mortem at Ramathibodi Hospital at the request of his father.

In related developments, Phichit Hospital director Dr Sunee Thirakarunwong called for people not to eat meat from ill birds.

In Nong Bua Lamphu, livestock officials were disinfecting many areas after fowls died en masse.