Bird flu virus was discovered in chickens in Thailand´s eastern Rayong province, the livestock department said.

    "This is considered a new case of the virus, as it has never been found in Rayong before," the department chief Ukon Limlaemthong was quoted by The Nation newspaper as saying on Thursday.

    Ukon said he had been told the virus entered the province in chickens smuggled by sea, prompting the department to issue a ban on imports of poultry along the eastern border.

    Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry´s disease control departpment ordered stepped-up inspections along border provinces adjacent to Laos and Cambodia to guard against the spread of bird flu, which reappeared in Vietnam recently.

    "Inspection and screening of imports of poultry in the areas are important and urgently needed otherwise the virus may be able to spread to our country," said Thawat Suntharajarn, chief of the department.

    He added Thailand would continue to operate a nationwide monitoring network to prevent the reemergence of the virus in the kingdom.

    At least 25 Vietnamese and 12 Thais were killed in two bird fluoutbreaks last year. Since Dec. 30, last year, Vietnam has reported five new deaths from the epidemic.

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Public health authorities are closely monitoring a patient on the bird flu watch list after the Livestock Development Department confirmed the first outbreak this year in chickens.

The man, aged 44, was sent to a Chon Buri hospital on Monday with a respiratory infection. He fell sick after attending cock-fights in Rayong´s Klaeng district, where the virus has re-emerged.

Lab test results to be released today will confirm whether the patient´s symptoms were actually due to infection with the bird flu virus, Kamnuan Ungchusak, head of the Epidemiology Bureau, said. It was still unknown if two fighting cocks were infected with bird flu..

Twenty-four people have been placed on the ministry´s watch list since Jan 1, but none has been reported infected with the deadly H5N1 strain, he said.

About 20 infected chickens have been culled in Rayong, said Yukol Limlaemthong, head of the Livestock Development Department.

He believed the virus had managed to spread in the country through chickens smuggled in by sea from abroad. The department has banned all imports of poultry along the eastern border.

Stringent surveillance measures will continue in the four provinces of Rayong, Nakhon Pathom, Phetchabun and Phitsanulok for another 21 days, he said.

Thawat Sundarachan, head of the Disease Control Department, said thousands of health officials and volunteers had gone door-to-door to warn people about the risk of a new outbreak, urging them to protect themselves with rubber gloves and masks before handling chickens.

The authority is trying to ensure the virus does not jump to humans and cause more deaths after its spread in Vietnam among both chickens and humans.

An 18-year-old woman has died of bird flu in Vietnam, bringing the death toll there since December of last year to six.

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Avian Influenza surveillance in human As at January 19, 2005. Bureau of Epidemiology, Department of Diseases Control, Ministry of Public Health I. Avian Influenza in human situation 2005 Since 1 January 2004 to 19 January 2005, the Bureau of Epidemiology has received report of cases of influenza or pneumonia in Avian Influenza Surveillance Network from Provincial Health Offices and Disease Prevention and Control Regional Offices. The results of preliminary investigation were summarized as follows: 1.      New cases = 2, One case each from Chiangmai and Sukhothai. 2.   Cases under investigation = 3, either additional clinical information or past history of risk factors are needed: One case each from Maehongson, Chiangmai and Sukhothai. (Table1) 3.   Excluded, either the findings did not comply with the definitions or laboratory result revealed other causes : 20 cases 4.   Cumulative case reports ;total since 1 January, 2005 = 23, from 15 provinces.            Central; Six cases from Suphanburi, and 1 each from Bangkok metropolis, Nonthaburi and Chonburi.             North; Three cases from Kamphaengphet, and 1 each from Sukhothai, Phichit, Payao, Nan, Phitsanulok, Maehongson and Chiangmai.            South; One case each from Chumpon, Nakhonsrithammarat and Songkhla.   Table 1 : Details of under investigation Avian Influenza in human cases, Thailand, cumulative since 1 January 2005.   No. Sex Age (yrs.) Address Onset Hospital Diagnosis Outcome 1  M 23 Moo ban Mae Laga, Khoon Yuem district, Maehongson Jan. 16, 2005 Srisungwan Influenza  On treatment 2 M 71 Tambon Songtaew, Doy loi District, Chaingmai  Jan. 14, 2005 Doy loi Pneumonia On treatment 3 F 7 Tambon Muang Sawankalok, Sawankalok District, Sukhothai  Jan. 17, 2005 Sawankalok URI On treatment   Note:    Sex: M = male,  F = female   II. Avian Influenza in human situation 2004   1.      Confirmed cases by laboratory detection of Influenza A (H5N1).         Total = 17; recovered = 5 and deaths = 12 2.   Probable case, because the signs complied with the definitions or died or respiratory failure or preliminary laboratory result.   revealed influenza group A infection = 1; death = 1 3.       Suspected cases, which the signs complied with the definitions.   Total = 22; recovered = 13 and deaths = 9 III. Avian Influenza International Situation, www.who.int      Since December, 2004 to Jan 14, 2005. World Health Organization reported confirmed Avian Influenza cases from Vietnam = 6, deaths = 4. The median age is 17 years, minimum = 6 years, maximum = 35 years. The sex ratio is fmale:male = 2:1. All of the cases resided in the southern part of the country which had reported avian influenza outbreaks in poultry since December 2004. The infection occurred by contacting sick or dead poultry. There has been no confirmation of human-to-human transmission. IV. Domestic Avian Influenza in poultry situation Avian influenza in poultry situation on the Department of Livestock Development web site (www.dld.go.th) since October 2004, to January 15, 2005 showed the areas where the outbreak are still active and the 21 days surveillance are not complete = 4 tambons, divided by parts as follow:       @ Central part: Two provinces, in descending order, Rayong = 1 tambon.       @ Northern part: in descending order, Phitsanulok = 3 tambons.   *Patient definition: 1.      Suspected : Individual who has body temperature >38°C and one of these symptoms; muscle pain, cough, breathing difficulty, or shortness of breath, or the physician suspicious of pneumonia or influenza plus history of direct contacting sick or dead poultry within the last 7 days or unusual dead of poultry in the village within the last 14 days, 2.      Probable : suspected case with preliminary laboratory result of influenza A infection but strain not known either human or avian influenza yet or respiratory failure or dead, 3.      Confirmed : suspected case with final laboratory result indicated influenza A (H5) of which is avian strain by PCR or by virus culture, 4.      Excluded : any patient who is not compatible with the aforementioned definition or laboratory result proved to be other causes. 5.      Being under investigation : any patient, whose additional data or information either clinical or contact history in risk area are needed before any conclusion could be made.