MSNBC Fight against bird flu intensifies in rural Thailand: Many local farmers unwilling to kill poultry

[Guest guest]

>

>Fight against bird flu intensifies in Thailand

>NBC's Robert Bazell reports on the efforts to

>stop the spread of bird flu in Thailand and its

>impact on the local economy.

>http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4088381/

>

 

* Bird flu fears

Jan. 28: The bird flu has already killed 10

people in Asia, and millions of animals have also

died, either from the disease or from

government-ordered slaughters. NBC's Robert

Bazell reports.

 

Nightly News

Fight against bird flu intensifies

in rural Thailand

Many local farmers unwilling to kill poultry

 

By Robert Bazell

Correspondent

NBC News

Updated: 9:28 p.m. ET Jan. 28, 2004

 

In the countryside of Thailand Wednesday it was

difficult to find a farm with living chickens.

One of the few that did have them required

visitors to be sprayed with disinfectant to

protect the chickens from a human bringing in

bird flu.

 

The owner of the farm, Vorayuth Chaynarong, has

good reason to be afraid. In recent days Thai

soldiers and prisoners have slaughtered more

than 7 million birds from infected flocks.

 

Bird flu has been a recurring problem in Asia for

years - it is carried by migratory birds that

spread the virus from region to region. The

illness first infected humans in Hong Kong in

1997, but was contained after a mass slaughter of

millions of chickens. Scientists are not sure why

the virus has made a comeback this year in at

least 10 countries.

 

While bird flu has so far killed only a handful

of people, health officials fear the virus will

mutate into a strain capable of spreading from

person to person, like human influenza does. If

that happens, the virus will become a major,

global health threat.

 

In Bangkok, ministers and health officials from

several countries held an emergency session

Wednesday, promising cooperation and openness to

halt the spread of the disease.

 

" We have emphasized the highest degree of

transparency, " said Klauspeter Schmallenbach, the

European commissioner to Thailand. But already

several countries have tried to hide the problem

and many researchers worry about the limited

economic resources available in the region to

contain the virus.

 

Is it possible to bring this outbreak under

control? " Everybody hopes so, " said Dr. Scott

Dowell, who attended the meeting on behalf of the

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Many farmers hesitant to kill birds

But health officials face an uphill battle and

farmer Chaynarong's situation illustrates part of

the problem. While the Thai government is

reimbursing farmers for the market value of birds

it kills, farmers are hesitant to destroy

their flocks because of the long-term economic

impact. Chaynarong says that if all his birds

were killed and egg production stopped, he and

his 30 workers would still be devastated

financially despite the payment from the

government.

 

And the plight of farmers in Thailand is better

than that of others in neighboring

countries. Other governments are paying less --

or nothing -- and creating a huge incentive for

farmers to hide sick birds.

 

Meanwhile, officials report that the human

infections and deaths, including two in Thailand,

have been mostly limited to children living near

farms who are exposed to chickens or chicken

droppings. Researchers emphasize that unless the

virus mutates, most bird flu infections in Asia

can be prevented by avoiding contact with poultry

and thoroughly cooking chicken meat, which kills

the virus.

 

Despite these safety measures, health officials'

primary focus is the elimination of infected

birds, the source of the virus, since as long as

the disease continues to spreads in birds, people

throughout the world will be at risk.

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive

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