During 2004–2005, 3 major waves of avian influenza outbreaks occurred in Thailand . The first wave was reported in early January 2004, the second in July 2004, and the third in October–December 2005. In total, 22 persons were infected and 14 died. Recently, a fourth wave began on July 23, 2006. The Thai Ministry of Public Health reported that avian influenza A (H5N1) virus killed 2 infected persons. The first patient, a 17-year-old man in Phichit Province, began to experience symptoms on July 15, 2006, and died on July 24, 2006 . The second patient, a 27-year-old man in Uthai Thani Province, began to experience symptoms on July 24, 2006, and died on August 3, 2006 .
The fourth wave of these outbreaks involved chickens and encompassed 2 distinct areas: Phichit Province, identified on July 23, 2006 , and Nakhon Phanom Province, identified on July 28, 2006 . We sequenced all 8 gene segments of the 2 viruses isolated from Phichit and 1 virus isolated from Nakhon Phanom and then submitted to GenBank as follows: A/chicken/Thailand/PC-168/2006 (DQ999879–86) and A/chicken/Thailand/PC-170/2006 (DQ999887–94) from Phichit and A/chicken/Thailand/NP-172/2006 (DQ999871–8) from Nakhon Phanom.