Thailand has reported its 16th bird flu death after test results confirmed that a 27-year-old man had died from the H5N1 virus, officials have said.

"The victim was a 27-year-old man from the central province of Uthai Thani," said Thawat Sunthrajarn, director general of the Public Health Ministry´s disease control department, on Saturday. Thawat said the man died on Thursday.

It was Thailand´s second bird flu fatality in 2006, following the death of a 17-year-old boy in late July. The boy died after coming into contact with a bird that had the disease.

The public health ministry said the 27-year-old farmer got sick on July 24 after burying a dead chicken with bare hands. He had 16 chickens at his farm, but the ministry did not say whether all his chickens were dead.

The man then developed a severe headache and fever, the ministry said in a statement. He was from Uthai Thani´s Sawang Arom district, 220 kilometers (136 miles) north of Bangkok.

Following his death, health workers gave his wife anti-virus drugs and put her under a 14-day bird flu surveillance.

Earlier in the day, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discussed bird flu during his weekly radio show and urged the public to report to health authorities any information on the deadly virus.

"If you see dead chickens or know someone gets sick (due to suspected bird flu), you must immediately give all such information to doctors so that authorities can contain the outbreak," Thaksin said in a radio address.

Thailand is among the countries hardest hit by the deadly H5N1 virus, recording 24 human cases, 16 of them fatal, since the outbreak in 2004.

To help control the virus, 900,000 volunteers have been recruited across the country. The kingdom aims to be completely free of the virus in three years.

Health experts fear the H5N1 strain of bird flu could mutate into a form that is transmitted more easily between humans, which would mark the first stage of a global flu pandemic that could kill millions.