Bird flu strikes again in Thailand

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The H5N1 bird flu virus has re-appeared in a third Thai province, the country's third outbreak this year after a six-month lull, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

All fowl in the immediate area around the outbreak in Ang Thong province, 105 km (65 miles) north of Bangkok were being slaughtered after 16 fighting cocks were confirmed to have died of bird flu, they said.

"The lab test has confirmed that the virus found in the province was the deadly H5N1," senior ministry official Pirom Srichan said on the Department of Livestock Web site.

The virus reappeared in Thailand last month, in two provinces in the north and northeast.

Thailand's previous outbreak of the virus in poultry was in July last year, and the last human death in August, the country's 17th since the virus re-emerged in Asia in late 2003.

The World Health Organization says the virus has infected 267 people in 10 countries and killed 164 since 2003. There are fears that millions could die if the virus were to mutate into a form that passed easily from person to person.