Cock-fighting birds likely culprit in Mukdahan H5N1 outbreak
The latest bird flu epidemic in the northeastern province of Mukdahan was most likely to have come from Sawannakhet province in Laos through illegal cock-fighting tours, health officials said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the total number of local people who had been in contact with dead poultry in two areas of the province's Muang district where the H5N1 virus was confirmed has risen to nine, including a livestock officer whose fighting cocks had died - presumably of bird flu. Earlier, the subtype H5 was confirmed in a dead chicken in Sawannakhet and it was highly likely the virus had spread to Mukdahan, said Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, the director-general of the Department of Disease Control. There had not been a single case of bird flu infection in the province over the past three years and this was the first time the H5N1 was found, said Dr Prapas Veerapol, a bird flu expert in Mukdahan. However, despite imposing stringent measures against bringing poultry, both dead and alive, and eggs to the province since the first confirmation of bird flu infection in Laos, there was still smuggling along the Thai-Laos border - which extends for 72 kilometres in Mukdahan. It was very difficult to control smugglers who used small boats to cross the Mekong River from Sawannakhet to Mukdahan, said Teerasuk Nasok, a Mukdahan Port health officer. At the port, no birds or poultry products have been allowed to be brought in since the bird flu virus was confirmed in Laos, he said. A source, who asked not to be named, said the cock-fighting game dens were ordered shut down right after Laos confirmed the bird flu epidemic, yet many local gamblers still sneaked out with their fighting cocks for a session in Laos. A frequent gambler was the livestock officer. A number of his fighting cocks had died and he himself was being watched for bird flu infection, said the source. The results of lab tests on samples taken from the officer's poultry were not yet known. Poultry smuggling and illegal cock-fighting tours to Laos were the two of the most likely channels for the bird flu to have spread to the province, Thawat said. Seven of eight people who had eaten a dead turkey plus the livestock officer were given the antiviral drug Tamiflu to prevent infection. A pregnant a woman was excluded, said Prapas. After being announced a "disease outbreak zone" on Monday, Mukdahan livestock officials ordered "comb-search" testing for H5N1 virus in poultry in every single house within a radius of one kilometre from the two infected areas.
Arthit Khwankhom The Nation Mukdahan
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