Man suspected of contracting bird flu in Thai nort

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   http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/90880/6365262.html 

Man suspected of contracting bird flu in Thai northeast

20:47, March 03, 2008

A man was suspected of having contracted bird flu after eating sick chicken and fell ill in Thailand's northeastern province Chaiyaphum, according to local media Monday. 

Promma Kulkasem, 57, was admitted to the Chaiyaphum Hospital Monday after falling sick with high fever and other flu-like symptoms since last Saturday, said the news network The Nation. 

Promma said that he roasted and ate some of his chicken which died from illness and died before he himself fell ill. 

The patient was closely watched in the intensive care unit (ICU)and a lab test is being conducted to determine whether he had caught bird flu. 

Promma was the second suspected human-contracting-bird-flu case reported this year. In early February, a 32-year-old man in northern province Phichit was also suspected of contracting bird flu with high fever after contact with dead chickens. But lab tests later cleared him of the danger. 

Thai public health authorities nationwide has been put on alert for bird flu outbreak after a flock of chicken which died in January at a farm in northern province Nakhon Sawan were confirmed to have contacted the H5N1 virus, prompting a culling of thousands of poultry and a quarantine in the region. 

Earlier in March 2007 a bird flu outbreak was reported in northeastern province of Mukdahan bordering Laos. Last September, the Phichit province also reported detection of H5N1 virus that killed dozens of chickens raised by a villager. 

The latest wave of bird flu outbreaks in Thailand since 2004 has seen 25 people infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, 17 of whom died. 

No human bird flu case has been reported this year. 

Source: Xinhua