Published on October 19 , 2005 - Officials struggle to contain latest rural outbreaks. A patient suspected of being infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 flu virus has been detected in Kanchanaburi province, amid government moves to stop the spread of bird flu in poultry farms and migrant birds.

Bang-orn Benpad was suffering from a high fever and bronchitis after cooking and eating a sick chicken and his lungs had deteriorated rapidly, said Dr Surapong Tanthanasrikul, a senior provincial health officer.

The 48-year-old man is now unconscious in a disinfected ward at Paholpolpayuhasena Hospital.

However, the Department of Medical Science’s director general Dr Paijitr Warachit said that the laboratory test results did not detect the H5N1 virus in Bang-orn’s blood sample. But there were records that showed Bang-orn once suffered from tuberculosis.

Dr Kamnuan Ungchusak, director of the Department of Disease Control’s Bureau of Epidemiology, and an investigating team visited Bang-orn’s house in Phanom Thuan district yesterday.

Kamnuan said it was normal for health officials to closely monitor an area suspected as having a human case of bird flu.

He asked health officers in all provinces to immediate notify the department about any patients suspected of having bird flu or serious influenza.

Health officials have quarantined Patipan Benpad, Bang-orn’s seven-year-old son, who is also sick with high fever, and Dr Surapong said he would check whether the chicken Bang-orn ate was infected with H5N1.

On Saturday Phanom Thuan district was declared re-infected by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD) after a large number of chickens died mysteriously recently.

Last year, the same district was hit hard by H5N1, resulting in a massive cull of chickens. One boy was confirmed dead from bird flu.

Dr Suchai Charoenratanakul, the Public Health Minister, yesterday inspected a bird-flu laboratory at the Department of Medical Science in Chiang Mai. He assured the public that the ministry could cope with the spread of the disease. “There is no report of human-to-human transmission yet. Please don’t panic,” he said.

The government had 300,000 doses of Osel Tamivir or “Tamiflu” – the only antiviral drug found to be potentially effective in treating H5N1 – for people in “risk” areas, if necessary, the minister said. Several measures are now being employed to control the new outbreak of H5N1 from spreading around the country: the DLD is disinfecting poultry farms while transportation of poultry from province to province is completely banned.