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Thailand reveals 15th H5N1 death

Thailand yesterday confirmed that a 16-year-old boy who died this week was infected with bird flu, and the prime minister blamed the boy's relatives for his death, saying they had tried to hide an outbreak among their chickens.

Thai health officials said that Yongyuth Daengmeesri of the northern province of Phichit, who died on Monday, became infected after helping his family bury some of their chickens that had died.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra held the boy's family responsible for the death because they had failed to inform health authorities that their chickens were sick, and sought to avoid a required cull of all of their poultry.

"They buried the chickens themselves because they were worried that if they told the authorities, the authorities would cull all their chickens," Thaksin told reporters.

"The hospital learned about the case only after the patient's condition had deteriorated," he said.

The boy became Thailand's 15th bird flu fatality and the country's first confirmed case in humans this year, according to laboratory results yesterday morning.

Health officials were also closely monitoring three other suspected cases in Phichit Province, Public Health Minister Pinij Jarusombat said in a statement.

The boy, from the Tabklor district of Phichit, became sick on July 15 and was admitted to the hospital on Saturday. Yongyuth had helped bury his family's dead chickens seven days before he became ill, the health ministry statement said. He was not wearing gloves when he had contact with the dead chickens.

The statement said health officials were conducting lab tests to see if Yongyuth had dengue fever as well.

Agriculture officials had on Tuesday confirmed the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens in Phichit. The new cases were the first found in Thai poultry in more than eight months.

Thai livestock officials said earlier this month that they were keeping a close watch for possible bird flu outbreaks in areas that have been hit by heavy rains and flooding, because the virus can live longer in wet climates.
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