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.