Bird Flu Kills 18-Year-Old Man in Thailand

The deadly H5N1 bird flu has killed a young man in Thailand, raising the death toll from the virus in Asia to 29 this year, Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said on Thursday.

The deadly H5N1 bird flu has killed a young man in Thailand, raising the death toll from the virus in Asia to 29 this year, Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said on Thursday.The 18-year-old man, who raised fighting cocks in eastern Prachinburi province, fell ill last month and died on Wednesday.”The lab tests confirmed that he had H5N1,” Sudarat told reporters.A 16-year-old boy who lived in the same neighborhood had been taken to hospital but tested negative for H5N1, she said.The virus, which spread through much of Asia earlier this year, has killed 20 people in Vietnam and nine in Thailand.Two Malaysians have been isolated in hospital this week with symptoms of bird flu after the illness emerged in Malaysia last month.Victims are believed to have caught the virulent virus through close contact with sick poultry or their droppings.Thailand was the world’s fourth-largest chicken exporter until the disease forced the slaughter of 60 million birds and halted exports to key buyers Japan and Europe.The bird flu epidemic is partly to blame for a slowing Thai economy this year, with the agricultural sector shrinking further in the second quarter. (Source; Reuters, Sept 2004)