News - Child dies of avian flu - Thailand's 14th victim

A five-year-old boy in Nakhon Nayok province just north of Bangkok has become the 14th victim of H5N1 avian flu, the health ministry announced today.

Deputy Minister Anutin Charnvirakula said the boy was from Ong Karak district, and tests had confirmed the cause of death as avian influenza.

The boy lived in a rural family which kept a small number of chickens running free. He was six for nine days before his family took him to the hospital.

He is the 22nd Thai to contract the virulent virus. So far, 70 people, all in Asia, have died from the H5N1 flu strain.

Bangkok Post - Breaking News