Sep 9, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – An 18-year-old boy in Thailand who had been exposed to sick chickens died yesterday of H5N1 avian influenza, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

The WHO said Thailand"e;s Ministry of Health reported the case. The young man was from Prachinburi province in eastern Thailand, where H5N1 avian flu erupted in poultry earlier this year. The man was hospitalized Sep 5 and died of acute respiratory distress 3 days later, the WHO said.

A Reuters report today said the man had raised fighting cocks.

On the basis of WHO figures, the death raises the number of human cases of avian flu this year to 40, including 29 deaths. There have been 13 cases with 9 deaths in Thailand and 27 cases with 20 deaths in Vietnam.

In other developments, Malaysian officials have ruled out avian flu in two people who were hospitalized with suspected cases, according to an Agence France-Presse report today. The patients were a 10-year-old boy and a 45-year-old veterinarian. The story said no new suspected human cases have been reported.

Bernama, Malaysia"e;s national news agency, said today that culling of chickens and ducks around the site of the country"e;s second recent outbreak of avian flu has ended. The affected area is at Kampung Belian in the Tumpat district in northern Malaysia.