The fourth victim of fatal bird flu virus in Thailand died in Bangkok's Children Hospital at about 6:00 pm Tuesday, the Bangkokbiznews.com website reported.

The latest victim, a 7-year-old boy from Suphan Buri province, 110 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, is one of the two bird flu infection cases that had been confirmed firstly by the Thai government on Jan. 23.

Since then the boy remained under intensive care in Bangkok's hospital, while an other 6-year-old boy who was confirmed at the same time died on Jan. 26.

Tuesday morning, Thai Government spokesman Chakrapob Penkaur announced that a 4-year-old boy at the list of suspect bird flu patients died of complication of pulmonary inflammation, but the lab test could not confirmed the boy had been infected by the bird flu virus.

So far, all four patients infected by the fatal virus that confirmed by the Thai government had died, meanwhile Thailand also declared 18 patients as suspected bird flu infection patients, 11 of the 18 had died.

Chakrapob also said after about 27 million chickens from 39,195farms all over the nation had been slaughtered, only 7 provinces of the nation's 76 provinces including Bangkok were still at list of "red" outbreak provinces.

According to the rule of the Thai government, in the control zone chickens must be culled within a 5-kilometer radius of where the virus was found and chickens may not be moved outside a 50-kilometer radius.

Thailand's poultry industry, the world's fourth largest, has suffered from the bird flu outbreak. The European Union, Japan and other major markets have banned Thai chicken products.

Thailand exported about 500,000 tons of chicken worth 52 billion baht (US$1.3 billion) in 2003, but faces significant losses this year because of the crisis. The government said the outbreak would be controlled in February.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2004)