Health Minister shrugs off typhoid fears

BANGKOK: -- Public Health Minister Suchai Charoenratanakul today dismissed concerns that the current outbreak of typhoid in Malaysia could spill over into Thailand, noting that the government took continual precautions to prevent its spread.

Speaking in response to the recent deaths from typhoid of two people in Malaysia, Dr. Suchai stressed that typhoid was a problem for all tropical countries, and that the issue was not a new one.

However, he offered assurances to the public that they had nothing to fear from the Malaysian outbreak, and said that the Ministry of Public Health attached a high level of importance to keeping the disease under control.

"There are most certainly no outbreaks of this disease in Thailand", he said, adding that to avoid infection, the public should be careful to ensure that all food and water they consume is clean.

--TNA 2005-04-29

However, he offered assurances to the public that they had nothing to fear from the Malaysian outbreak.

"There are most certainly no outbreaks of this disease in Thailand", he said, adding that to avoid infection, the public should be careful to ensure that all food and water they consume is clean.

The same was said when bird flu first broke out in Vietnam....

unfortunately, it did indeed spread to Thailand with it's resultant deaths...

His last statement is utter CRAP.... how is the public to know if food/water they consume is contaminated with the typhoid bacteria??? It's microscopic... and doesn't alter the appearance of food/water one iota... It can appear to be "clean", but in fact be teeming with bacteria.

If this is what Public Health is in Thailand.... it's no wonder the public is constantly "under attack" from bird flu, SARS, fungal orange drinks, dengue fever, contaminated som tam, etc. etc. etc.