Doctor’s bird-flu warning rejected

AUTHORITIES HAVE denied rumours that bird-flu infections were detected in Thailand last year. 
At least three relevant agencies, including the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, will also join a press conference today to assure the public that the country has not seen any bird-flu cases for more than a decade. 
Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach said yesterday that his ministry would not try to hide a bird-flu infection because concealment would not deliver any benefit. 
“We are telling the truth,” he said. 
Grisada said he had already talked to Public Health Ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk, who also insisted no one had been infected with bird flu during the past year. 
“Both ministries have constantly monitored the situation,” Grisada said. 
He was speaking after Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, a prominent doctor at the Chulalongkorn University, was quoted in a new report as suggesting that animal deaths at the Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo might have been linked to bird flu and that the dangerous virus linked to the disease might have undergone DNA changes. 

Lawsuits recommended
Dr Teerawat Valaisathien, who heads Disease Prevention Control Office 9, also previously said that bird flu had killed civets at the Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo, very likely because of infected animal feed. 
Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo’s director, Tewin Rattanawongsawat, recently said that although many animals died just outside his zoo months ago, Livestock Development Department (LDD) tests confirmed they did not die of bird flu.
At present, LDD labs are said to be the only facilities equipped to determine whether an animal has died of bird flu. 
Grisada yesterday said any businesses affected by the false rumours could turn to the court to seek compensation. 
The Thai Broiler Processing Exporters’ Association, however, said the rumours had not affected business operations to date. 
“Buyers pay attention to official information from the Livestock Development Department,” the association’s manager Kukrit Areepakorn said. 
The Disease Control Department’s director-general, Dr Suwannachai Wattana-yingcharoenchai, separately said yesterday that the last time a bird-flu patient was confirmed in Thailand was in 2006. 
“We have not seen any bird-flu infection since that year,” he said. 
He said had a bird-flu infection occurred, it would have been impossible for anyone to try to hide it.