Southeast ASIA problems with bird flu

Bird Flu Scare Resurfaces in Southeast Asia
By Margie Mason/AP Writer/Hanoi
August 09, 2006

New bird flu flare-ups in Thailand and Laos and the steady march of the disease in Indonesia have raised concerns in other Asian countries that they too may see the deadly virus rise again.

Thailand last month confirmed its first human case in seven months when the H5N1 strain of the virus killed a 16-year-old boy. A second death was reported in Thailand on Saturday, prompting Vietnam's prime minister to call for heightened vigilance.

Vietnam, where bird flu has killed 42 people since it began ravaging poultry stocks about three years ago, has not logged any human cases in eight months or observed disease in birds this year. A poultry outbreak last month in neighboring Laos—coupled with the Thai cases—has left officials on edge, however.

International experts say they're less concerned about Thailand and Vietnam, which have shown they can control the virus, than Indonesia, which does not have the same record of success.

Indonesia has tallied 44 deaths in the past year and became the world's hardest-hit country this week after two more teenagers died on the outskirts of Jakarta.

"Indonesia takes a lot of sleep away from me," said Juan Lubroth, an animal health expert at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. "If we are not able to keep a lid on the problem, it could be a source for future outbreaks and an extension of the outbreaks to other parts of the world."

The re-emergence in Thailand and Laos, along with continuing outbreaks in China, is a reminder of just how difficult it is to rid a country of the virus.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson in Geneva said the human cases and outbreaks in Thailand were unexpected and "certainly disappointing."

"There is always the possibility that (avian influenza) will return and continued vigilance is necessary at all levels throughout a country," he said in an e-mail.

Cambodia experienced human cases and poultry outbreaks in April, and Dr. Sirenda Vong, head of the Pasteur Institute's epidemiology and public health unit in Phnom Penh, said he's always on the lookout for new flare-ups.

Bird flu has killed at least 137 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry in late 2003. Most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.