Published on October 25 , 2005 - At least six people were suspected yesterday of having bird-flu - and all appear to have been in contact with birds before they fell ill, informed sources said. The first person to be listed was Thongpron Klompanya, 39, in Nakhon Pathom, after two initial lab tests suggested he might have caught the deadly H5N1 virus. He and his wife work on a farm where many ducks died on Sunday.

It was his job to feed the ducks. “He had a headache and doctors at the health centre suspected he might have caught the bird flu and referred to him a hospital,” Thongpron’s wife said yesterday.

Her husband was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night but got scared and sneaked home, prompting a search by livestock officials, police officers and hospital staff. Thongpron has been re-admitted to Nakhon Pathom provincial hospital, where doctors are awaiting the results of further tests.

In Kanchanaburi, a four-year-old girl was put under medical observation yesterday because she developed a fever after a pigeon dropped dead in her home without clear reason.

“Also, there are many fowls dying in her neighbourhood,” a doctor at Phahol Polphayuha-sena Hospital said. Two more suspected bird-flu cases are under observation at the hospital - a nine-year-old girl and a 48-year-old woman.

Meanwhile, a three-year-old girl and a 71-year-old woman were yesterday admitted to Kamphaeng Phet Hospital with possible bird-flu symptoms. Doctors said birds had died near both patients’ homes.

The Public Health Ministry says there were 19 confirmed bird-flu cases - and 13 deaths - between Dec 2003 and Sunday.