Thailand 7/24-7/27

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

The two towns mentioned are circled in red. One of them, Taphan Hin, is where two sisters were hospitalized for suspected bf 5 days ago. The blue circle is where 2000 poultry died at the beginning of the month and a girl was hospitalized. Green is where many of the suspected patients are taken. Phichit is only 40 by 40 miles by the way.

[Theresa42]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

From Dr. Niman, post #8:

Officials found bird flu when they conducted tests on the birds after 31 chickens died in Phichit province's Bangmunnak district, said Nirandorn Auengtrakulsuk, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Disease Control Department.

'Bang' or 'Ban' in Thai is village/town -- so this 34F bf suspect is from the town where H5N1 has been confirmed. She is from the village "moon nâak" -- or Ban Moon Naak -- Bangmunnak. Same place.

http://www.travelpost.com/AS/Thailand/Phichit/Ban_Mun_Nak/map/2125223

[Theresa42]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

The two towns mentioned are circled in red. One of them, Taphan Hin, is where two sisters were hospitalized for suspected bf 5 days ago. The blue circle is where 2000 poultry died at the beginning of the month and a girl was hospitalized. Green is where many of the suspected patients are taken. Phichit is only 40 by 40 miles by the way.

They've got bf in Phichit and they've got it bad. They have infected people. No doubt.

[Siamese]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Is that dotted black line a rail road or a road?The cases seem to be following that line.

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Is that dotted black line a rail road or a road?The cases seem to be following that line.

A river, a road, and a railroad connect the three towns.

[Siamese]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Is this country open to help from WHO or others?

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Is this country open to help from WHO or others?

Probably, though the greatest irony is that they're the ones helping the WHO, teaching them how to eradicate bird flu from a country... That's why this is gonna be such a big shock to everyone. Because Vietnam and Thailand have been priding themselves for the last 9 months on having eradicated the bug, whereas the reality is that they eradicated the news and hoped it would go away. Well, it's flying back in, and picking up what it's predecessors weren't able to do.

[Siamese]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Phichit's avian-flu outbreak contained

The deadly bird-flu virus has struck for the first time this year.


Officials admitted yesterday the disease had killed birds

in Phichit, but caretaker Agri-culture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said the outbreak had been contained.

After weeks of reports of suspected bird-flu deaths in poultry in several areas, livestock authorities announced yesterday that tests had come back positive for the virus.

Laboratory results found at least 20 samples taken from dead fighting birds in Phichit were positive for bird flu, Sudarat said in a statement.

The bird's owners were free of the virus, she said.

Quarantine had been imposed within a radius of one kilometre from where the birds died. The transport of all birds had been prohibited.

The ministry admitted the virus had been detected in samples of chicken sent to Thailand for testing by neighbouring countries.

Thailand immediately banned the import of all forms of poultry, said Sudarat.

The Health Ministry and Phichit officials were stepping up checks for flu symptoms in people, Disease Control Department director-general Dr Tawat Suntharacharn said.

Teams of epidemiologists

had been dispatched to Phichit

to assist local disease experts.

Fifteen suspected bird-flu patients were taken off the watch list yesterday after tests proved negative.

Two of those were from Phichit, said Dr Paijit Warachit, head of the Medical Sciences Department.

Meanwhile, Phitsanulok has reported a five-year-old boy may be suffering from the virus and Uttaradit has three new suspected cases.
Both provinces continue to report unexplained poultry deaths.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006...l_30009471.php

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

I love statements like the bolded ones. They're so clueless.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/25Jul2006_news03.php

AVIAN FLU DISEASE RETURNS AFTER EIGHT MONTHS

H5N1 virus outbreak confirmed in Phichit

POST REPORTERS

The eight-month bird flu-free hiatus in Thailand ended yesterday as the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry confirmed a fresh outbreak of the H5N1 virus in the northern province of Phichit. The confirmation came shortly after poultry farmers and an outgoing senator accused the ministry of covering up the re-emergence of the deadly disease after massive deaths of poultry in many provinces from early this month.

The ministry had repeatedly denied bird flu had recurred but eventually verified the outbreak yesterday.

The Livestock Development Department's lab detected the avian flu virus in a fighting cock carcass from Bang Mun Nak district. This was where almost 300 fowls had been culled after the mysterious deaths of around 30 fighting cocks and free-range chickens two weeks ago, caretaker Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan told a press conference.

Khunying Sudarat, however, tried to ease public concerns over the detection of the bird flu virus.

''Finding the virus in an area that used to be plagued with the disease like Bang Mun Nak district is considered to be a common thing. It would be more frightening if the virus was found in a bird flu-free zone,'' she said.

Outgoing senator Nirun Phitakwatchara, who earlier accused the ministry of covering up the re-emergence of bird flu for fear the country's poultry exports would be hit, called on Khunying Sudarat to resign to take responsibility for mismanagement of bird flu monitoring and delayed confirmation of the outbreak.

Dr Nirun claimed that local livestock officials told him that the H5N1 virus had been detected over a week ago, but the ministry had covered it up.

''The Agriculture Ministry has once again put export income ahead of people's lives,'' said Dr Nirun, referring to the ministry's alleged concealment of avian influenza when it first struck the country in early-2004.

He also urged state officials to stop conspiring with politicians in covering up such disease outbreaks.

Nirundorn Aungtragoolsuk, director of the Livestock Development Department's Disease Control Bureau insisted that test results had confirmed the bird flu outbreak late yesterday morning and the ministry had informed the public right away.

Dr Nirundorn said the virus was unlikely to spread since all fowls in the infected area had been culled from Saturday.

The department had now employed extreme measures to contain the outbreak, including imposing a total ban on fowl movements in the province and sealing borders to prevent smuggling of poultry from neighbouring countries.

The department had reported the re-emergence of the disease to the World Organisation for Animal Health and major importers of Thai cooked chicken.

The area within a 10-km radius of the infected farm had been put under a 21-day surveillance.

The Public Health Ministry, meanwhile, reported yesterday that an 11-year-old boy from Phichit had been listed as the country's latest suspected bird flu case.

A blood sample from the boy had been sent for testing. Results were pending for another seven suspected cases.

[tsalagiT]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Bangmun nak is along the same railroad (that i posted about over the weekend) with the other towns recently listed by thai officials as the 7 on the red list. I had expected the next town to be mentioned to be further north of those previously listed. Bangmun is located south before all the others. But then, they said this town already had suspected human problems last week. hmmm. wonder if I've got it backwards in my theory and this could be going south instead of north. vaffie....you still with us? or have you left. if you have a link that tells when these towns were approx first mentioned. suppose at this late date it doesn't really matter. sounds like it's pretty much all through central thailand.

[Theresa42]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

Bangmun nak is along the same railroad (that i posted about over the weekend) with the other towns recently listed by thai officials as the 7 on the red list. I had expected the next town to be mentioned to be further north of those previously listed. Bangmun is located south before all the others. But then, they said this town already had suspected human problems last week. hmmm. wonder if I've got it backwards in my theory and this could be going south instead of north. vaffie....you still with us? or have you left. if you have a link that tells when these towns were approx first mentioned. suppose at this late date it doesn't really matter. sounds like it's pretty much all through central thailand.

If it is travelling along train lines via transported poultry -- or roads for that matter -- could be coming south from southern China. Have there been any outbreaks/suspicious bird deaths/human illnesses further north in Thailand recently? I'm thinking around Chiang Mai or even closer to the border with China? Also, there were some suspicious bird deaths in Laos fairly recently weren't there (vaffie)?

Here's your train line map again, tsalagiT:

http://www.trekthailand.net/map-thailand/trainmap1.html

[Bruce]

Re: All suspected human cases test negative?

Thailand bans poultry imports to prevent new bird flu outbreak

BANGKOK, July 24 (TNA) - Thailand has banned poultry imports from neighbouring countries to prevent a new outbreak of bird flu.

So there is more acros the border

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

If you please, let me tell you a story.

There's a very old house, and in this house all kinds of creatures live. It's a Noah's arc, in a sense. And the animals in this arc are constantly flying, walking and digging their way out the windows, the doors, the chimney, the holes in the roof, under the floorboards. This house is located in a valley next to a large river. It has been flooded before and the bathtub is still full from it, and there are big patches of mold and puddles everywhere. It starts raining, and the river begins to rise. Water starts dripping into the house in all parts, down the chimney, through the roof, water rises through the floorboard from underneath, it streams in through the windows. The animals continue to deny that anything is going wrong, that it's just a little rain, and of course none of them pay any attention. They agree that it's not floodwater, it's just rain--the two are different. The rain continues, and the river starts to flood, the water continues to rise, and part of the roof blows off. The door swings open and stays open and some of the remaining windows break. Some of the animals start to drown, others catch pneumonia. The animals nearby rush to the house when they hear that it's flooding and creaking under the weight of the water and could collapse at any time. The wisest of them heads for the bathtub, takes some of the wet stuff out of it, places it in a frying pan with a thermometer, and then waits for it to start boiling. Upon finding that it starts to boil at 100 degrees he immediately announces to everyone that it is indeed H20, and they all head to the bathroom to clean up the water, each with a bucket. They remove most of the water from the bathtub with their buckets and dump it on the ground and relieved, they announce that they have succeeded, that the bathtub water would not cause any more suffering and death and that it was probably already filled up from the previous storm, not this petty rain. Drenched and secretly worried that the house might still fall down despite their efforts, they all then march out of the house to tell the world that they had succeeded. This house is Thailand. The water is H5N1. And you're asking me now how and where the water exactly entered the house? Sorry, no idea. How does it matter anyway? It's drowning, literally and figuratively.

[tsalagiT]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

sorry vaffie. Didn't mean to upset ya. let me tell you why i'm interested and then maybe you'll be more receptive to why I asked.

It's pretty much a given that H5N1 is all over asia now. migration and poultry trade took care of that for the last couple years. I'm just looking for the pin in the haystack. evidence that this is no longer b-h cases that we have to worry about...but h-h-h-h-h-h-h..... and when i see many, many human cases that congregate along a rail line...starting from one end and it's working it's way on down....well..... it'd just be nice to be able to go back and check to see how this has progressed in the last month or so. just wanna make my final run on preps before you do. lol

btw. i really do appreciate how you and the others have worked so hard here. ~T

[Sharpe]

Re: THAILAND [Phichit] - [Three] Several new suspected cases in Phichit

I'm not upset, don't worry about that. I almost never get upset. It's just impossible to answer, though. The data has been denied for so long, it's impossible to know where and how anything started.