Suspicious Death Of Chickens In Northern Thai Province

THAILAND - An undisclosed number of poultry were found dead of unknown causes Monday in Wang Thong District of Phisanulok Province in Thailand's northern region.

The announcement was made shortly after the kingdom's Ministry of Public Health confirmed the presence of the avian influenza virus in dead domestic chickens in the adjacent province of Phichit.

The suspicious deaths of chickens were reported in five Phitsanulok sub-districts, as livestock officials reported having destroying 6,000 chickens between July12-24 to prevent a possible new outbreak of the disease.

So far there has been no reported human acquisition of bird flu from these poultry populations and lab tests have not indicated any of the dead chickens in Phisanulok as testing positive for the virus.

Source: Mcot

25 July 2006