The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will commence a new round of bird flu inspections beginning this month until November to clean up poultry production sites and spray disinfectants in provinces identified as at-risk areas to safeguard against possible avian flu from migrant birds as the wildfowl migration season will begin soon, according to a vice minister.

The migratory birds might carry the H5N1 virus when they pass through Thailand, he said, and localities must be prepared to deal with the threat.

Vice Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong said that beginning from the first week of September until November, the ministry will carry out a second round of door-to-door campaigning to educate the public and acquire information regarding local poultry from villagers--particularly in the 29 provinces that have been identified as being especially vulnerable.

Dr. Charal, who also headsThailand´s command centre on avian influenza, said that measures to prevent bird flu virus from being transmitted from migrant birds passing through from China and Russia
during the coming migration intensive months, the authorities will spray disinfectants at Bueng Boraphet in Nakhon Sawan--Thailand´s largest lake, and swamps in Suphan Buri and Pathum Thani provinces.

The Deputy Minister added that the ministry was facing old problems that could not be solved in bird flu eradication.

Local residents in several areas have been reluctant to disclose what has happened regarding suspicious deaths, he said, and had even covered up information about poultry which died from unidentified
causes.

Procedures to dispose of dead poultry were not conducted properly, he said, adding that they were being dumped into rivers and canals.

Villagers sometimes cooked dead chickens and shared them with their neighbours, he said, indicating a downside stemming from traditional Thai ideals of being part of a village.

Despite government proscriptions against moving chickens and other fowl upcountry, illegal movement of poultry is still found in some areas and is considered a significant risk factor in the spread of the virus.

Dr. Charal said he had assigned the Livestock Development Department to educate the public about the strict rules which must be followed to prevent the infection and spread of bird flu and to realise the danger which the virus poses.