Thailand confirms fresh outbreak of H5N1 virus

Thailand has been struck by its first outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in eight months, the government said on Tuesday.

"Laboratory test results have confirmed that 31 chicken samples collected from Pichit province had the H5N1 virus," government spokesman Surapon Suebwonglee told a news conference.

The northern province is one of seven "red zone" provinces where surveillance was stepped up this month.

All chickens in the affected area had been culled and there were no reports of humans infected by the virus, which has killed at least 132 people since late 2003, 14 of them in Thailand.

The last death in Thailand occurred in December 2005 and the Health Ministry said on Tuesday an 11-year-old girl sent to a Pichit hospital with flu-like symptoms after chickens died on her family farm had human flu.

Thailand was slow to respond to bird flu when it first began ravaging poultry flocks, but it now has one of the strongest surveillance systems in the region.

However, recent incidents in which villagers have ignored government warnings and handled dead chickens have raised fears that public vigilance against the disease is waning.