Bird Flu Is Here Again

[Spellbound]

BIRD FLU

Chiang Rai outbreak confirmed

Upsets plan to declare country disease free

Kultida Samabuddhi

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob's plan to declare Thailand free of bird flu by early next week has collapsed after the discovery of an outbreak in Chiang Rai was confirmed.

The minister revealed the outbreak yesterday, two weeks after the bird flu was detected in the province.

Mr Newin was forced into the confirmation after a Thai-language newspaper published a test result on bird flu-infected chicken from Chiang Rai.

The lab result was dated Feb 26, a day after the government lifted all red alert zones.

An affected poultry farmer said he repeatedly told the Livestock Department about the outbreak, but was ignored.

Mr Newin claimed the department tested a chicken carcass from an infected farm earlier, but the result was negative.

``Unconvinced, the poultry farmer sent the chicken carcass to Kasetsart University's lab, which confirmed the fowl was infected with H5N1 virus strain of bird flu on Feb 26,'' said Mr Newin.

``Livestock officials immediately culled the chickens within a one kilometre radius of the farm. The operation ended on March 2 and the area is now under 21-day surveillance.''

If no there were no more cases the area would be downgraded to a green zone on March 23, he said.

Mr Newin said officials were also testing suspicious chicken carcasses from Chachoengsao's Phanom Sarakham district. Mr Newin said on Monday that with no more reports of mass chicken deaths since the mass culling operation ended on Feb 25, the country could be declared bird-flu free under International Organisation for Animal Health rules on Mar 16, if no new case of bird flu emerged. The Chiang Rai outbreak means a change of plan, with the ministry declaring bird flu-free zones area by area, rather than for the whole country.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/11Mar2004_news09.php

[meadish_sweetball]

Who's surprised...?

[george]

BANGKOK: -- Thai Deputy Minister of Agriculture Newin Chidchob on Wednesday ordered the ministry's breeding department to investigate unofficial information of a new bird flu outbreak in the northern province of Chiangrai.

The investigation decision was issued after Thai newspapers confirmed negative results of a new type of virus isolated from swab patterns in the province, despite no evidence of bird flu caused by the virus.

Although the Thai Government has just declared free from the epidemic nationwide, every area has to be vigilant in case of new outbreaks, said the deputy minister.

--Agencies 2004-03-11

[britmaveric]

But Thaskin said Thailand was Bird Flu Free!!!!

[george]

Bird flu back in Thailand

BANGKOK: -- A new outbreak of bird flu has been discovered in Thailand, and more than 100 chickens were found dead in Japan, where initial tests came up negative for the disease, authorities said Thursday.

In Thailand, Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said a laboratory test confirmed the presence of bird flu in chicken in Chiang Rai province, 680 kilometers (422 miles) north of the capital, Bangkok.

The results were dated Feb. 26. Newin did not say how many samples were taken or why it took so long to announce the results.

Thailand declared itself free of bird flu on Monday, saying no active cases had been reported in poultry since Feb. 25. It was not immediately clear if the government would rescind that announcement or postpone plans to resume chicken breeding in affected areas next month.

On Wednesday, two Thai newspapers said the virus may have reappeared, citing laboratory tests and farmers' accounts, causing Newin to order an investigation by the Livestock Department.

The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied for weeks that bird flu was spreading in the country before acknowledging an outbreak on Jan. 23.

The disease has killed at least seven people in Thailand who had close contact with chickens and devastated the country's poultry industry.

More than 30 million chickens in Thailand have died of the disease or been culled in an effort to stop its spread.

In Japan, authorities in the southern state of Fukuoka were investigating the possibility of a new case after a poultry farm there reported that 126 chickens had died overnight.

Initial tests on some of the animals were all negative, the state said in a brief statement. Kyodo News service quoted unnamed officials as saying they suspected the birds may have died of heat stroke.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization on Thursday warned affected countries not to restock flocks too quickly to avoid the disease flaring up again.

--AP 2004-03-12

[parryhandy]

is it just me or does that read like they tried to cover it up again ?

[iwan]

How is it that they think it is possible to get a country rid of millions of viruses when we humans cannot get cured of the common cold flu virus?

Before we know it the current virus would have mutated and the cycle continues. So the more we are tampering with Mother Nature with unnatural meat factories and human greed, the more we will heap these sort of karma.

[george]

Bird flu 'is contained'

ASIA’S bird flu epidemic, which has killed at least 22 people and millions of chickens, is finally under control, the head of the world animal health body said today.

But Bernard Vallat, of the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health, warned the deadly virus might linger for months.

Previous outbreaks of bird flu in Europe and the United States took six months to bring to heel, he said.

Thailand, the world’s fourth-largest poultry producer and one of the worst-hit countries, admitted today it had fresh outbreaks earlier this month.

--Agencies 2004-03-12

[george]

Outbreak fears strike Uttaradit

Results of lab tests on dead chickens due on Monday

UTTARADIT: Chicken-farmers in Uttaradit have been reporting mass deaths of their birds since early this month, leading to fears of a return of bird flu, a local official said yesterday.

Liam Phromklai, a village head in the province's Muang district, said that more than 300 local small-time raisers in his village had told him that between 30 and 50 of their chickens had died each day since the beginning of this month. The villagers are afraid of another bird-flu outbreak in Uttaradit as it was one of the provinces hit by the recent epidemic, he said.

In mid-February, as the government was about to declare that bird influenza was under control, fresh outbreaks were detected in Uttaradit's Nam Pat and Muang districts. The province earlier reported that it had contained outbreaks in Tron and Phichai districts.

Mass deaths of chickens have continued in the province, the village headman said yesterday. The raisers had buried their dead chickens but failed to properly disinfect their farms due to lack of involvement on the part of the authorities, he said.

Jintana Yimyanyong, owner of a chicken farm in Uttaradit's Muang district, said yesterday that she had lost almost half her 3,000 birds since mass deaths on her farm began early this month. She said that the dead chickens had been buried but that she was unsure whether the steps taken were correct as no officials had given advice on what to do.

Uttaradit's caretaker livestock chief, Wannee Nakbua, said samples had been collected from a number of chicken farms in the province for lab tests to determine whether there was a new outbreak there. She expected results of the tests on Monday. If they are positive, the districts the samples came from will be declared bird-flu epidemic areas, she said.

Meanwhile Charal Trinvuthipong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, yesterday dismissed a media report that a new human case of bird flu had been found in Uttaradit. He said there was only one confirmed case there and no reports of suspected cases.

In Chiang Mai authorities are also awaiting results of lab tests to determine whether the recent deaths of more than 400 chickens and ducks were linked to bird flu, said Thira Ananworapanya, the province's livestock chief. He said that the symptoms of the dead fowl were "very similar" to those of bird flu.

--The Nation 2004-03-12

[mouse]

In Japan, authorities in the southern state of Fukuoka were investigating the possibility of a new case after a poultry farm there reported that 126 chickens had died overnight.

Initial tests on some of the animals were all negative, the state said in a brief statement. Kyodo News service quoted unnamed officials as saying they suspected the birds may have died of heat stroke.

Those darned hot nights in Japan are surely the culprit. In Thailand it was the cold that was the alleged cause. The weather seems to have gone amok.

[LPCustom69]

They obviously tried covering it up, again! Are you surprised parryhandy? The declaration of disease free while this situation was occurring, and they were aware of it will do nothing to help their reputation. The fact that the farmer had the chicken tested, after the government said that nothing was wrong, shows the amount of confidence that the Thai people have in their leadership.

[Pepe']

Smart farmer...

[Pepe']

Iwan,

If karma is an issue then this would just be the tip of the iceburg, Ya think?

[castelleone]

it would have been too nice, easy and simple if the whole epidemic was just gone like this. No one should be surprised if the peak of the mountain has not been reached yet.

We should all stay in alert!

[mraloha]

reminds me of the habitual liar who belives their own lies to be true

[Dove]

Once upon a time, I don't whether it still is but Thailand was one of the top AIDS country in the world. Today it is not even safe for the birds

[Pharcyder]

If ONLY karma was the issue, then we´d have to learn from it.

yeah hea!

[meadish_sweetball]

Ok, radical suggestion. Go to 300 of the most acknowledged breeders of fighting cocks. Ask each to nominate his most promising chook. Get an equal number of healthy hens for them to play hide the chicken sausage with.

Put them all in strict quarantine. Sell the offspring for 100 baht a piece to anyone who's interested. Hunt down and kill ALL OTHER fighting cocks.

The old man in my soi still keeps the same chicken family - only he now keeps them in his yard instead of outside in the street. He's not going to listen to the government asking him to bring in his pets, no matter what reasons they give him.

It would surprise me greatly if this kind of business is not going on exactly ALL OVER the country.

The talk of killing all chickens within a such and such radius of an outbreak sounds good, but is most likely just those monitor lizards doing their spin doctoring. Well, sorry guys, we don't believe you anymore.

[Be There Soon (I Hope)]

Ok, radical suggestion. Go to 300 of the most acknowledged breeders of fighting cocks. Ask each to nominate his most promising chook. Get an equal number of healthy hens for them to play hide the chicken sausage with.

Put them all in strict quarantine. Sell the offspring for 100 baht a piece to anyone who's interested. Hunt down and kill ALL OTHER fighting cocks.

The old man in my soi still keeps the same chicken family - only he now keeps them in his yard instead of outside in the street. He's not going to listen to the government asking him to bring in his pets, no matter what reasons they give him.

It would surprise me greatly if this kind of business is not going on exactly ALL OVER the country.

The talk of killing all chickens within a such and such radius of an outbreak sounds good, but is most likely just those monitor lizards doing their spin doctoring. Well, sorry guys, we don't believe you anymore.

This is a great point...in fact it get's me thinkin'.....

Now I'm not a 'conspiracy-theory' type, but sweetball has highlighted a critical flaw that makes the 'quarantine' and 'culling' inherently useless in a society that has any significant amount of cockfighting (I assume this is the case in thailand).

Now, there are certain officials who's sole responsibilty is to handle this outbreak... I imagine there have been countless meetings and such that have taken place in reponse to the disease and how to eradicate it. They MUST have stumbled onto this tangent that makes their current techniques useless.

Therefore: all culling and quarantine efforts are knowingly in vain. This drain on resources is a mere show or act to assure the public that efforts are in fact being made.... meanwhile, officials sit back with fingers crossed as the disease takes it's natural course. Does anyone agree? Or does the Culling indeed hasten the demise of the disease?

[BlackJack]

There ARE some winners in all this

the local restaurant off Soi Ngamduplee has jacked the prices of meat 4 times in a month

when questioned about the rise we're told that the pork and beef producers have jacked the price up and so the restaurant must hand it on to survive

What goes round comes around and so (IF) this C virus is brought under control will the price of meat go down again or will it in true thai tradition remain artificially HIGH

Also i was told that GOD is a little "P'd" off with mankind not being able to cure the common cold / animal cold / virus and so he has decided to up the anti -he designed these viri apparently go through a puberty cycle every so many years where they mutate or jump the species barrier - sort of like a carrot and stick for scientists

Believe it or not - these outbreaks will force governments to change current pratices and to spend money on researching for cures - one only has to remember the AIDS epidemic in the USA - it took over 1 year for the USA government to start screening blood ( as the cost was to high ) (20,000 plus infected before action was taken )

Apart from a cure

This natural mutation has been exponentally increased due to the current farm growing techniques - keep them in cages - pump them full of everthing in case they get sick- hormones, antibiotics, etc

If anyone has seen a chicken farm you will know it is a dirty filthy place - just ripe for sickness and mutations.

And you see plenty of this

I asked a chicken farmer once what do you do with the mutant or damaged chickens

He replied - make them into chicken nuggets

believe it or not

[Wolfie]

Thailand is Bird flu free...

His Majesty, King Toxic says so, therefore it MUST be true

[argus1949]

Did I heard the word "BANANA REPUBLIC"?

[kandt]

But Thaskin said Thailand was Bird Flu Free!!!!

Toxin could never have said that.

[et33.com]

me stay off the chicken drumsticks

me stay off the chicken thighs

me stay off the chicken heads

me stay off the chicken wings

me stay off the chicken backsides

me stay off the chicken eggs

what's so difficult about it

what chicken flu

and pig flu

and mad cow

and goat ulcer

and chemical fish

[george]

Bird flu persists in Thailand, 11 provinces affected

BANGKOK: -- Bird flu is stubbornly hanging on in Thailand, officials said on Sunday, dashing hopes that the country would soon be free of the epidemic that has killed seven Thais and led to the culling of millions of chickens.

Thailand, the world's fourth-largest poultry producer and one of the worst-hit countries, had hoped to declare the epidemic over by next week. But officials now say that may not happen until April.

"We've found that chickens have still died in certain areas," Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob told reporters, adding that tens of thousands of birds had been culled in the 11 affected provinces since early March.

"We may not be able to declare the epidemic over next week," Newin said. "We expect all of the areas to become green zones in April if nothing wrong happens".

Thailand, which has culled about 35 million chickens to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain, is eager to revive its shattered poultry industry and resume annual exports worth $1.5 billion.

Newin said exports of cooked chicken could resume next week to Japan, the biggest buyer of Thai poultry.

Previous outbreaks of bird flu in Europe and the United States took six months to bring to heel and the OIE, the world animal health body, has cautioned against excessive optimism in Asia, saying H5N1 probably would be around for months.

At the height of the outbreak in Thailand, authorities declared 400 "red zones" in 42 of its 76 provinces. An area must go 21 days without a new outbreak before it can be downgraded to an uninfected "green zone".

Newin said 27 provinces were declared bird flu free on Saturday, but it would be another 69 days before farmers could start restocking their farms.

Despite the disease appearing to be on the retreat, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation has urged affected nations not to restock poultry farms too quickly to prevent the disease from flaring up again.

Bird flu spread across much of Asia over the last few months, killing at least 15 people in Vietnam and seven in Thailand, and forcing authorities to slaughter more than 100 million birds to halt the advance of the epidemic.

Vietnam said last week its outbreaks had been contained and it planned to begin restocking farms.

--Reuters 2004-03-13

[h5kaf]

How can this be? I thought that Toxin had declared Thailand free of drugs, dark forces and latterly bird flu. This is surely nothing to be concerned about. Interestingly I heard somewhere that the French Embassy is refusing to issue Thai Chickens with passports or visas.

[iwan]

Iwan,

If karma is an issue then this would just be the tip of the iceburg, Ya think?

Pepe',

i guess things happen with a real cause. Millions of living beings can't just die for no deeper reason and little impact/effect in the whole connectedness.

[CM451]

I just had some chicken from KFC and I'm sure not scared of the bird flu, but it was the worst over-cooked piece of bird I have ever eaten. I guess I am supposed to be re-assured that if you cook it into rubber it's safe.

Ok I'll wait until next week when the FLU is all gone.

[iwan]

i will lay off anything to do with chickens, rats and cats.

Imagine that you are healthy chicken (for now) but many around you have passed on. So you owner thinks that to safeguard you, he ought to try his best to keep you kicking. i think his plan of action, other than hidding you away, is to find stronger vaccine(s) to inject you with.

Not sure if they analyze the end-products for additional ingredients but i am sure you will find residue aplenty.

[ChiangmaiJim]

How do you define a suspicious chicken carcase