Ministry dismisses reports of a second 'bird flu' death
The Public Health Ministry yesterday dismissed "wild speculation" in the media that Thailand had recorded its second fatal case of bird flu in humans this year, saying that test results from the nine-year-old girl from Lop Buri indicated she had died from human influenza, not bird flu.
Two adults in Chachoengsao who were reported in the press as being suspected bird-flu cases have also tested negative for the H5N1 virus, said Dr Thawat Suntharacharn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control. He insisted that Thailand had had only one confirmed human case of bird flu in the current wave of the epidemic, the 17-year-old boy from Phichit who died late last month. Yesterday alone a total of 191 patients' samples were sent to be tested for bird flu, said Dr Paijit Warachit, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, which carries out the tests. As of noon yesterday, 152 of the samples had been excluded from the "under investigation" list and the remaining 39 were being tested, the doctor said. Thawat said that in response to the public attention to the Lop Buri case, the department ran tests twice even though there were no supporting epidemiological factors, such as contact with dead chickens. He said the girl's illness was so virulent because she might have some underlying factor that weakened her immune response to human influenza, which killed about 900 Thais last year. "Some people may not even fall ill after contracting the influenza virus, whereas some get sick with severe symptoms and eventually die," Thawat said. More than 140,000 human influenza cases were reported last year and more than 6,000 cases have been diagnosed this year, of which 300 were fatal, he said. "Influenza, too, is worrying … there has been a significant rise in the mortality rate from the disease over the years," Thawat said. Due to a lack of funds, the influenza vaccine is only given to people at high risk, he said, adding that the Public Health Ministry provided vaccination to healthcare workers in the front line of the fight against influenza. The ministry also has a collaborative programme with the Social Security Fund, which takes care of about eight million private-sector employees in the country, to inoculate workers at risk, such as those employed in poultry slaughterhouses.
Arthit Khwankhom The Nation
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