The Thai government on Monday confirmed that a leopard died earlier had infected with H5N1 virus, which caused the prevalent avian influenza.

"The lab test showed that the leopard died earlier had infected with H5N1," Thai Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa told reporters.

He said this is the third test on the dead leopard, which died on Jan. 27 in a zoo located some 60 kilometers east of Bangkok.

A white tiger in the zoo was also tested positive of the H5N1 virus but had recovered.

The World Health Organization's Bangkok spokesman John Rainford reportedly said that the organization so far had little information about the case.

He also dispelled concern by saying that bird flu's threat to human remains low even though the virus had jumped to leopard because people had rare access to the exotic animal of the cat family.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday that the fowl epidemic affected a new province while the disease resurfaced in eight other provinces.

The Thai government said earlier that no more new outbreaks of the disease were reported and the worst of the epidemic had gone.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, however, insisted that the disease was far more than under control and urged the Thai government to keep alert to the situation.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2004)