WHO warns Thai bird flu monitoring lagging: report
WHO warns Thai bird flu monitoring lagging: report
Agence France-Presse/Bangkok
The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticized Thailand for not doing enough to monitor birds capable of carrying the deadly avian flu virus, media reported on Saturday, following the kingdom's ninth human death.
Komsan Fukhom, 18, who reared fighting cocks in eastern Prachin Buri province, died on Wednesday, becoming the 28th Asian fatality from the lethal strain of bird flu that swept the region in 2004.
"The death from the H5N1 strain of bird flu shows the quarantine measure to prevent the epidemic among animals is not good enough, and that should be improved," WHO Thailand representative Kumara Rai was quoted as saying in the Bangkok Post.
In late July, Thailand confirmed resurgent outbreaks in chickens and other birds had hit 27 of the kingdom's 76 provinces but said it had swiftly and successfully tackled the new cases.
A transport ban and fighting cock "passports" were among measures introduced by Thailand to try to prevent the birds spreading disease while being taken across the country for fights.
The criticism follows a warning by the WHO Friday that more people are likely to be killed by the virus, which it described as still being endemic in Asia.
Thailand is expected to announce on Monday whether it will inoculate fighting birds against the virus after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urged the Health Ministry to consider vaccination.
The kingdom -- the world's fourth largest poultry exporter -- had until Friday ruled out using vaccines as a way of fighting its outbreak despite advice from the United Nations that countries should consider inoculating birds.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization declared in July it was backing broader use of vaccinations, which would guarantee an import ban by the European Union -- a key export market for Thailand. The EU has already blocked imports of Thai poultry until at least December.
Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Malaysia have all reported bird flu outbreaks since July after an earlier crisis this year left eight dead in Thailand and 16 in Vietnam and crippled poultry industries.
Vietnam late last month confirmed that three more people had died from the disease -- bringing its toll to 19 -- more than four months after declaring that bird flu had been contained.
The WHO fears that H5N1 could mutate into a highly contagious form that triggers the next global human flu pandemic.