CARETAKER Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul today (Feb. 24) ordered the Public Health Ministry to investigate and clarify whether the death of 72 tigers at a Chiang Mai sanctuary was related to avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, Amarin TV and TV Channel 7 said.
This followed Dr. Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, having raised concerns that this could be the case.
When reporters questioned Anutin about this issue just as he was about to attend a cabinet meeting he briefly replied that the Public Health Ministry would handle the matter.
Similarly, Public Health Minister Pattana Promphat only stated that the Department of Disease Control is currently investigating the cause of death, without providing further details.
Chiang Mai’s Livestock Department had said on Friday (Feb. 20) that testing had detected the highly infectious canine distemper virus as well as a bacteria affecting the respiratory system in the 72 tigers that had died.
The tigers had died at a tiger sanctuary in Mae Rim district with the remaining big cats being moved to an animal care centre in Mae Taeng district.
Avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, is a contagious viral disease caused by influenza A viruses which primarily infect wild birds and poultry. However, in rare cases, it may also infect humans and mammals, according to the Singapore government’s communicable diseases agency.
Human infections with the avian influenza virus have occurred sporadically since its first detection in Hong Kong in 1997. There has been no sustained human-to-human transmission, although several small clusters of infections have been reported.
The avian influenza viruses are divided into several sub-types. The most frequently identified sub-types of avian influenza that have caused the majority of human infections to date are the A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) viruses.
CAPTION:
Some tigers. Above photo – MNG Online, Front Page photo – Amarin TV
Also read:
Myanmar man dies of rabies in Rayong
D-Day! ‘Normal’ sweetness reduced by 50%
