Information received on 9 September 2005 from Dr Yukol Limlamthong, Director General, Department of Livestock Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Bangkok:

End of previous report period: 1 September 2005 (see Disease Information, 18 [35], 289, dated 2 September 2005).

End of this report period: 8 September 2005.

Date of first confirmation of the event: 23 January 2004.

Nature of diagnosis: clinical, post-mortem and laboratory.

Details of new outbreaks:

Description of affected population in the new outbreaks: native chickens raised in backyards or free ranging with minimal biosecurity.

Diagnosis:

Source of new outbreaks: unknown or inconclusive.

Control measures undertaken:

- stamping out;

- quarantine;

- movement control inside the country;

- screening;

- zoning;

- disinfection of infected premises/establishments.

Vaccination prohibited: yes.

Other details/comments:

Thailand has been conducting the current nationwide surveillance since 1 July 2005.

There was one more province, i.e. Saraburi, affected during this week.

In this third wave to date, there have been 33 confirmed outbreaks in 5 provinces, since the second wave of HPAI re-occurrence that occurred from 3 July 2004 - 12 April 2005:

The five affected provinces are in the Central Poultry Zone of Thailand (see details and map in Disease Information, 18 [35], 290-291, dated 2 September 2005).

All cases involved either free-range poultry or poultry raised in farms with traditional husbandry practices with poor sanitation and insufficient biosecurity.