Published on October 21, 2005 - Avian influenza caused the death of a Kanchanaburi resident earlier this week, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra confirmed yesterday.

Later, a senior public-health official at Siriraj Hospital disclosed last night that the man’s seven-year-old son appeared to have contracted the deadly disease too, as the boy helped his father to kill infected chickens for the table earlier this month.

The hospital was expected to announce the official lab test results on the boy today.

The boy’s father Bang-orn Benphad, 48, a resident of Kanchanaburi’s Phanom Thuan district, died on Wednesday.

At time of going to press, the virus has been detected in 15 spots in Kanchanaburi, Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom and Kamphaeng Phet, authorities said.

While confirming that Bang-orn died of bird-flu, Thaksin sought to downplay public concerns about the spread of the disease.

He said this was the only bird-flu death reported during the latest outbreak of the disease, which first hit the country in early 2004. The disease had claimed 12 lives in the country until October 10 this year.

“Also, we are taking proactive measures to control the spread of the disease,” Thaksin said.

Disease Control Department director-general Thawat Suntrajarn said yesterday that the initial report that Bang-orn tested negative for the bird-flu virus was based on the laboratory test results.

“We did not try to conceal anything. We just reported the lab results,” he said.

The government alerted the public as soon as the repeat test showed that Bang-orn was in fact a bird-flu victim, he added.

“We have always conducted repeat tests to ensure accuracy,” Thawat said.

Bang-orn was hospitalised on October 13. His son was taken to a local hospital on October 15 and referred to Siriraj Hospital after Bang-orn died.

Deputy Public Health Minister Anuthin Charnveerakul yesterday called on the media to help educate people about protecting themselves against bird flu.

“That can prevent deaths,” he said.

He asked people to alert officials if fowl fell ill or died suspiciously. “Do not cook and eat those chickens,” he said.

Anuthin said all hospitals across the country had already been instructed to watch out for bird flu.

Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said fowl in the outbreak areas had already been culled. “Also, we have kept a close eye on 17 other provinces where bird flu was once reported to ensure that we will be able to act quickly if fresh infections surface,” she said.

In Phitsanulok, livestock officials culled 500 fowl in a village in Tambon Nikom Pattana after chickens there suspiciously died en masse.

They are still waiting for lab test results to determine whether bird flu has hit the province.

Dr Somchai Peerapakorn, a World Health Organisation (WHO) specialist based in Thailand, said that he thought the country had a good surveillance system despite the recent bird-flu death.

He said this was seen from the ministry’s practice of always sending suspected bird-flu cases for lab tests. The Kanchanaburi resident was the first confirmed case out of more than 1,000 suspected human infections this year.

“At least the recent death will alert people and health officials that the virus is still in poultry and is still able to harm humans. We have to admit that the virus has become endemic in Thailand and might take a long time to be eliminated,” he said.

Somchai said that the bird-flu virus could endure and spread well in cold weather. “The WHO will also have to determine whether the bird-flu virus has become virulent,” he said.

The doctor said that it was possible that two lab tests on the same patient could show different results, depending on the amount of virus present at the time samples are taken.

“Each test needs to be re-checked by other referral labs to confirm the result. The WHO has six labs located in several countries. Thailand should recheck lab-test results there because it will be useful for the WHO to update global information about the virus,” he said.