The Public Health Ministry yesterday confirmed the second human death from the bird-flu virus this year. The announcement has revealed a discrepancy in information coming from the ministry and the Department of Livestock Development (DLD).

Pinij Charusombat, the Public Health Minister, yesterday announced that a 27-year-old man from Uthai Thani's Sawang Arom district who died Thursday was killed by the H5N1 virus. The announcement was based on the results of laboratory tests conducted by the Medical Science Department and Siriraj Hospital.

It was the second instance of a human confirmed case in an area where the DLD's laboratory tests showed chickens had tested negative for the virus.

"We are doubtful. We don't understand how people can be infected with the virus when our lab tests showed chickens there were not infected with H5N1," said Nirundorn Aungtrakulsook, director of the DLD's Animal Epidemic Control and Veterinary Division.

The DLD was still insisting that Nong Bua Lamphu's Na Klang sub-district and Phichit's Bang Mun Nak district were the only two areas in the country where the virus had been detected in chickens.

The department also said that chickens in Phichit's Thab Khlo district - where the first human case this year was confirmed - were negative to the virus.

The DLD's director general, Yukol Limlamthong, insisted that the whole province of Uthai Thani was clear of the virus.

Nirundorn said there were no reports about mysterious deaths of chickens in Uthai Thani's Sawang Arom district. He claimed that livestock officials in the province had been informed about the death of three chickens in a house there last month and they collected the bodies for tests, which proved negative.

He said livestock officials visited the same house again on Thursday after learning about the culling of seven more chickens. These were also tested and again, he insisted, the results were negative.

He encouraged the Public Health Ministry to investigate how the two human victims could have been exposed to the virus.

Dr Thawat Sunthrajarn, director general of the Public Health Ministry's Disease Control Department, denied making a comment on the information from the DLD. He only said jokingly, "it [the virus] might come from nowhere."

Thawat said medical doctors never rely on the information of the DLD during a surveillance programme for any endemic disease.

"Bird flu is like dengue fever in that they are both endemic diseases and the virus can exist anywhere and can be active when the conditions are right. For us, any place that reports mass chicken deaths with unclear reasons, we assume it is a bird-flu area. We don't wait for the lab tests of the DLD," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Dr Pratch Boonyawongviroj, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, said the latest victim became sick on July 24 after burying his dead chickens on July 17. He went to see a doctor on July 27 and was tested with a bird-flu rapid-test kit. The result was negative.

On July 30 the man went to the Sawang Arom hospital with symptoms that appeared the same as those caused by bird flu. But a laboratory test again confirmed that he was negative for the virus.

The next day, doctors decided to give him oseltamivir, an anti-viral drug that can be used to treat bird flu, and transferred him to Uthai Thani provincial hospital, where he died on Thursday. Yesterday he was confirmed as the country's 16th victim of bird flu since the first outbreak in 2004.

Meanwhile Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan yesterday announced 29 provinces as high-risk bird-flu areas. The 29 provinces are: Bangkok, Sing Buri, Angthong, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Suphan Buri, Chai Nat, Pathum Thani, Lop Buri, Chachoengsao, Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Phanom, Kalasin, Khon Kaen, Phichit, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Phatom, Phitsanulok, Udon Thani, Kanchanaburi, Samut Prakan, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachin Buri, Phetchabun, Uttaradit, Sukhothai and Uthai Thani