APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

Suphan Buri _ Thailand and Vietnam plan to set up a cooperation centre and improve their bird flu surveillance, Thai anti-bird flu centre director Charun Trinvuthipong said yesterday.

Dr Charun said health and livestock officials from both countries would meet in Phuket around mid-February to seek ways to put into place an effective bird flu surveillance system and to bring outbreak areas under quick control.

``The two countries can hold joint responsibility for an avian flu surveillance system since they have had a similar experience of virus infection among humans,'' Dr Charun said while inspecting preventive measures in Suphan Buri, one of the provinces hardest hit by the first round of bird flu outbreak early last year.

Dr Charun said the planned meeting in Phuket would aim at setting up a joint surveillance centre, practical precautionary activities and health-care facilities, in order to minimise chances of virus transmission and to provide early warning on possible human infection.

The two-day meeting would also focus on epidemiological behaviour of avian flu, scientific data of virus infection among poultry and people, preventive health-care measures, research on the recent family clusters of probable human-to-human transmission in Kamphaeng Phet province and the southern Vietnamese city of Dong Thap.

A family cluster involving southern Vietnam has been the focus of intense investigation. A 13-year-old girl from Dong Thap developed symptoms on Jan 20 and was put in hospital two days later. She is reported to be critically ill. The girl's 35-year-old mother developed bird flu symptoms on Jan 14 and died on Jan 22. Human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out at this stage.

A similar case occurred in Kamphaneg Phet last year. The case involved Sakuntala Prempasee, 11, her mother Pranee Thongchan, and her aunt Pranom Prempasee.

The girl, Sakuntala, died last September after contracting bird flu from a chicken, and probably passed the virus on to her mother and her aunt. Her mother died of bird flu two weeks after visiting her daughter in Kamphaeng Phet. Ms Pranom was also infected but recovered later.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported yesterday that a 10-year-old girl from Long An province became the 12th person in Vietnam to die of bird flu in a month.

The girl died on Sunday night after surviving about a week in critical condition on a respirator, said a doctor from Pediatrics Hospital Number One in Ho Chi Minh City.

The girl developed a high fever and coughing three weeks ago after helping her family bury dead chickens found in her village, said Ngo Van Hoang, director of Long An's provincial Preventive Medicine Centre.

In Thailand, 12 people died during the first and second round of bird flu outbreak in January and July last year.

Dr Charun said Thailand would also propose that neighbouring countries boost stringent surveillance measures and run campaigns to make people more aware of the disease. Insufficient recommendations regarding bird flu prevention were believed to be a key factor in the latest deaths, he said.

Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said health authorities would enforce health controls at poultry farms and slaughterhouses to ensure that avian influenza would not spread to humans during the upcoming Chinese New Year festival.

Yukol Limlaemthong, head of the Livestock Development Department, said authorities have already launched a campaign urging people to buy only cooked or fresh poultry packed in separate plastic bags. Warranty stickers have also been distributed to registered slaughterhouses that passed hygiene standards.

Authorities would continue to keep surveillance in Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Sawan, Phitsanulok, Rayong and Uttaradit provinces for another 21 days, after avian flu was found on some poultry farms, Mr Yukol said.