A lab test will today confirm whether another red-shirt protester has come down with the type-A (H1N1) influenza virus.
As of yesterday, six red-shirt guards were being treated for the disease at the BMA General Hospital.
The hospital director Dr Pitchaya Nakwatchara revealed that another red-shirt protester had been admitted at his institution at 2am yesterday with a lung infection and symptoms that could be associated with the type-A (H1N1) influenza. The man afflicted is a 47-year-old Bangkok resident.
"We have put him through a lab test," Pitchaya said, adding that the result would be released today.
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) spokesman Thanom Onkatephol yesterday expressed concern about red-shirt demonstrators exposing themselves to this potentially fatal disease.
Thousands of red-shirt demonstrators have been camped out at the Rajprasong intersection for weeks to demand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve the House of Representatives.
The type-A (H1N1) influenza is contagious and can spread quickly within crowds.
"If you develop suspicious symptoms, go and get checked out at any BMA hospital," Thanom said.
He added that BMA would be willing to send mobile medical units to the red-shirt rally site if the red-shirt leaders would give them the green light.