Thailand has reported its first bird flu death in over seven months but authorities insisted they could contain the outbreak, with health officials going on high alert.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the teenage boy caught the virus from one of his fighting cocks in northern Thailand.

"The victim failed to report the death of his fighting cock because he was afraid that authorities would slaughter his birds," Thaksin said.

"But it´s too late, he died of bird flu after touching the dead bird that had been sick," he said.

Thaksin identified the boy as a 16-year-old from Phetchabun province, but health authorities later said he was a 17-year-old in neighboring Pichit province.

Thai authorities Tuesday confirmed a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus in Pichit, but the boy was not living on the farm where the disease was found.

Thawat Suntrajarn, head of Pichit´s disease control department, said the victim suffered from a deadly combination of dengue fever and bird flu, which he said was common in people who die from the H5N1 strain of the virus.

The boy died Monday in hospital, one week after first visiting a doctor, Thawat said.

Authorities quickly banned all movements of poultry in Pichit, deployed 20 veterinarians from Bangkok to contain the outbreak and put seven other provinces on high alert.

Three of the boy´s relatives are under surveillance for any symptoms of the virus.

"The ministry has also imposed a complete ban on cock fighting in both Pichit and Phitsanulok provinces," Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said.

But officials insisted that the latest death would not derail Thailand´s plans to eradicate the disease within three years, and urged Thais to cooperate more closely with authorities by reporting suspicious deaths among their poultry.

"It´s unlikely that the outbreak will expand," Thaksin said.

"The government is more prepared now than at any time in the past" to contain the disease, he said.

Thailand was criticized for being slow to respond to the first outbreak of bird flu in 2003, but now is considered one of the countries best-prepared to battle the disease.

Thailand has stockpiled 1.5 million capsules of the anti-viral drug oseltamvir, a generic version of the drug Tamiflu, which Thailand began producing this year.

The government has also mobilized 900,000 health volunteers to monitor for the virus and to educate farmers about how to prevent it.