A new bird flu outbreak has been detected at a farm in
Thailand's lower northern province Nakhon Sawan, Thai livestock
officials said Thursday.
Thailand's Livestock Development Department director-general
Sakchai Sriboonsue said the laboratory found the virus H1N1 in the
dead chicken samples from a farm in Chumsaeng district, Nakhon
Sawan on Jan. 22.
More than 4,000 chickens died suspiciously on Jan. 18 at the Sri
Thai Farm and the farm owner informed local animal husbandry
officials to collect samples of dead chickens for lab tests.
A lab test conducted in nearby province Phitsanulok confirmed
the presence of the H1N1 virus in the dead chickens.
Nearly 10,000 chickens at the farm were culled on Jan. 22 and
disinfectant was sprayed throughout nearby areas.
Officials have now ordered a quarantine of all avian livestock
and requested the blanket disinfection of all poultry farms in the
area within a five-kilometer radius of the infected farm. Consumers
were also warned to ingest only properly cooked chicken meat.
Thailand has been among the countries hardest hit by the
deadlyH5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.
(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2008)