Public Health Ministry continues to monitor spreading of bird flu

BANGKOK, Feb 15 (TNA) -- Thailand's Department of Disease Control under the Ministry of Public Health is closely monitoring the bird flu situation, after the disease has been found to be spreading in various countries worldwide. The Department Director-General Dr Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk said after reports have been circulating on the spreading of H7N9 strain of the bird flu in large areas of Guangzhou in China's southern region. He said the department has also double checked the truthfulness of the information via the website of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and found that Guangzhou has not seen the spreading of the bird flu since the beginning of 2017. He said the the latest patients diagnosed with the bird flu was found in 2017 in the province, though no more new cases have been reported as yet. Dr Jedsada noted that the Department of Livestock Development had reported that Thailand did not import any poultry from China. The Director General stressed that Thailand is still at risk of seeing another spread of the disease through tourist arrivals who had visited countries where the bird flu in spreading, as well as through bird migrations, and the moving of poultry in and out of border. He said Thailand had seen the last patient infected with bird flu in 2006, and no more cases had been reported since. As for the other strain of the disease which has been found in other countries, they have not yet been found in the country, Dr Jedsada said. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), meanwhile, has informed of the accumulated number of infected patients with the H7N9 strain of the avian influenza between 2013 to Feb 8, 2017, noting that the figure stands at 1,115, with 379 killed by the disease. The organisation said the spreading of the disease is still limited within China and its special districts, without any reports of the disease spreading anywhere else. The Department would continue to monitor and evaluate the situation in risk areas closely, despite the fact that there has not been any reports of the disease spreading in years. (TNA)