Chinese soldiers on the streets of Urumqi in China’s far west Xinjiang province. China poured troops into the restive city of Urumqi in a massive show of force, but fresh violence flared as Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs armed themselves with makeshift weapons.
The red-shirts’ move to seek a royal pardon for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is inappropriate, as issues surrounding him should be dealt with politically, defence permanent secretary Apichart Penkitti said on Wednesday.
“The Justice Ministry must oversee this matter since a royal pardon can be submitted after receiving the ministry’s approval,” Gen Apichart said on Wednesday.
He said the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship’s campaign to gather a million signatures to support a petition to His Majesty the King must not be ignored by the ministry, and it should explain to the public about the procedures for seeking a royal pardon.
Thaksin had not mentioned this move, but earlier said he would not oppose it as the red-shirts were free to do what they considered best.
Gen Apichart said the fugitive politician was just ranting when he declared that the government should stop wasting its time trying to arrest him because it would not be able to do it.
“We’ll have to see how this will turn out in the end,” he said.
Puea Thai executive Suthin Klangsaeng said about 10 Puea Thai members, including himself, had met Thaksin earlier this month in an undisclosed location.
“Thaksin told us that he is worried about the government’s efforts to hunt him down because it only discredits Thailand. The government should not waste its time on this because many countries understood the nature of the cases against him,” Mr Suthin said.
Thaksin’s legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said his boss called him and told him that he did not want the red-shirts to hold a 60th birthday party for him at Sanam Luang on July 26.
Mr Noppadon said Thaksin thought it would not be suitable to hold the celebration to mark his birthday at the main public ground. However, he thanked red-shirt people for their good intentions.
An Abac poll, meanwhile, reported that 81.4 per cent of people surveyed opposed the Thaksin birthday party plan at Sanam Luang, reasoning that it was not suitable and it would create more social divisions in the country.
The other 18.6 per cent said they supported the idea as the venue is a public ground.
The Public Health Ministry confirmed two deaths related to the influenza A(H1N1) virus on Wednesday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 11 in the country.
A teenage boy was the 10th death and a 21-year-old woman living in Bangkok was the 11th victim.
Department of Medical Services’chief Rewat Wisarutvej said the 19-year-old student, a native of Phatthalung, had died of influenza A in Phuket on Friday. He also suffered from pneumonia.
The latest victim was a woman who was earlier admitted to hospital for treatment for a thyroid disorder. She died on Monday, Dr Rewat said.
Lab tests results revealed on Tuesday that the two had died of influenza A-related symptoms.
Dr Rewat said eight patients remained in critical condition and many of them were on respiratory machines.
The Public Health Ministry reported 290 new cases of influenza A (H1N1) on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 2,718.
Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodee said the number of new infections could double or even triple on Thursday after people return from the long holiday.
Mr Manit said he was confidet that doctors could provide good treatment for patients.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai admitted that the ministry was concerned about the abiility of the virus to spread so widely as universities and schools have started classes.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday it is not yet necessary to seal the country to control the spread of H1N1 flu as advised by Chulalongkorn Hospital doctors.
He said, however, that the matter will be raised at the cabinet meeting on Thursday to mete out more preventive measures such as closures of tuition schools and internet shops from which the flu was said to have spread.
Mr Abhisit said the government will try to keep close watch on those infected to prevent more deaths. An adhoc committee has been set up to specially take care of four flu patients who are seriously sick, he added.
Despite enduring some tough economic times and recent political unrest, Thailand continues to provide an attractive location for multinational manufacturers. The country boasts a skilled workforce, a robust supply chain, a strong infrastructure and policies geared toward supporting a manufacturing base.
Last fall, International Finance Corp. and the World Bank noted in “Doing Business 2009″ that Thailand had jumped from 19th to 13th in the world in terms of ease of doing business. The report credited Thailand for improvements that made it “easier to pay taxes, start a business, trade across borders and register property.” Thailand also was cited for taking steps “to protect investors, improve bankruptcy procedures and strengthen the legal rights of creditors and borrowers.”
One of the country’s top 10 employers, Fabrinet, continues to expand its manufacturing operations in Thailand. Fabrinet is an engineering and manufacturing services provider of complex optical and electro-mechanical components, modules and bulk optics serving data communications, telecom, networking, medical and automotive markets.
Approximately 10 years ago, Asian outsourcing guru Tom Mitchell, co-founder of Seagate and current CEO of Fabrinet, conducted an extensive around-the-world investigation for the location of its optical component manufacturing. He chose Thailand. The criteria he used to make his decision then are similar to the criteria the company still uses in determining manufacturing locations.
“We conducted a broad-based, thorough investigation that evaluated eight specific areas: labor, engineering, infrastructure/cost, transportation, automation, political system, supplier base and language,” Fabrinet Chief Operating Officer Dr. Harpal Gill explains. “Thailand was measured against Malaysia, China, Philippines, Singapore, India, South America, Mexico and Taiwan.”
Fabrinet narrowed its top five criteria to:
The company honed in on Asia because that area of the world helped the disk-drive industry to become a high-tech manufacturing success story. The disk-drive industry has addressed the “time-to-market, time-to-volume, time-to-cost” metrics better than any other industry, in Fabrinet’s opinion. So Fabrinet chose Thailand.
In Thailand, the annual salary of a senior engineer is $10,000, while semi-skilled labor earns $1,500 per year, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. English is the second language. The infrastructure is well-developed and aided by strong investment support. Those factors, plus the ability to leverage the rapid launch and product transfer experience from the disk-drive industry, tipped the scale away from other countries.
412 BC – Major epidemic of a disease (which, although not called influenza, probably was influenza) recorded by Hippocrates.
1357 AD – The term, “influenza,” from the Italian word meaning “influence,” was coined. Popular belief at that time blamed the development of flu on the influence of the stars.
1485 – “Sweating sickness,” a flu-like malady, sickens hundreds of thousands of people in Britain. The Lord Mayor of London, his successor and six aldermen die. The Royal Navy cannot leave port due to the sickness of sailors. Doctors prescribe tobacco juice, lime juice, emetics, cathartics and bleeding as treatments for the disease.
1580 – First recorded influenza pandemic begins in Europe and spreads to Asia and Africa.
1700s – Influenza pandemics in 1729-1730, 1732-1733, 1781-1782.
1781 – Major epidemic causing high mortality among theelderly spreads across Russia from Asia.
1830 – Major epidemic causing high mortality among the elderly spreads across Russia from Asia.
1831, 1833-1834 – Influenza pandemics hit.
1847-1848 – Influenza sweeps through the Mediterranean to southern France and then continues across in Western Europe.
1878 – A disease causing high mortality in poultrybecomes known as the “fowl plague.” Fowl plague is now called HPAI avian influenza.
1889-1890 – The “Russian flu” spreads through Europe and reaches North America in 1890.
1900 – Major epidemic.
1918-1919 – The “Spanish Flu” circles the globe (though some experts think it may have started in the U.S.). Caused by an H1N1 flu virus, it is the worst influenza pandemic (and subsequently, epidemic) to date. There are more than half a million U.S. deaths; worldwide death estimates range from 20 million to 100 million. According to WebMD, “The pandemic comes before the era of antibiotics — which are now essential in treating the secondary bacterial infections that often kill flu-weakened patients — so it’s difficult to say whether this flu would have the same dreadful impact in the modern world. But it is a very frightening disease, with very high death rates among young, previously healthy adults.”
1924 – The first outbreak of HPAI avian influenza – bird flu — in the U.S. It does not spread among humans.
Late 1920s – Richard Shope shows that swine influenza can be transmitted through filtered mucous, implying that influenza is caused by a virus.
1933 – Sir Christopher Andrewes, Wilson Smith and Sir Patrick Laidlaw isolate the first human influenza virus.
1940 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet grows influenza on a laboratory growth system (embryonated chicken eggs).
1941 – George K. Hirst discovers that influenza causes hemagglutination of red blood cells, thus providing a new method of assaying for the virus
1955 – Sir Christopher Andrewes, along with Burnet and Bang, coins the term “myxovirus” for the influenza family.
1957-1958 – The “Asian Flu” causes the second pandemic of the 20th century. Caused by an H2N2 virus, it begins in China and kills one million people worldwide, including 70,000 Americans.
1968-1969 – The “Hong Kong Flu” causes the last flu pandemic. It was caused by an H3N2 virus and killed some 34,000 Americans. The relatively low death toll is thought to have been due to two factors. First, the virus contained the N2 protein humans had been exposed to before. Second, an H3 virus circulated around the turn of the century, giving some immune protection to elderly people who had caught the flu back then.
Mid-1970s – Researchers realize that enormous pools of influenza virus continuously circulate in wild birds.
1976 – Swine flu breaks out among a handful of soldiers stationed at Fort Dix, N.J. One dies. It’s an H1N1 virus, andhealth officials worry that they are seeing the return of the 1918 H1N1 Spanish Flu pandemic. As the virus is circulating among U.S. pigs, President Gerald Ford calls for a crash vaccination program. Despite delays, a vaccine is made and a quarter of the U.S. population is inoculated. There were 25 deaths from a rare paralytic complication of the vaccination (Guillain-Barre syndrome). Nobody else died of swine flu, which never caused an epidemic.
1977 – Mild Russian influenza epidemic occurs.
1983 – The second HPAI outbreak occurs in the U.S. Caused by an H5N2 virus, it does not spread among humans. However, this severe poultry epidemic strikes chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is finally brought under control after the destruction of 17 million birds.
1988 – Wiley, Wilson and Skehel determine the location of the antigenic sites on the hemagglutinin molecule by X-ray crystallography.
1996 – HPAI H5N1 bird flu is isolated from a farmed goose in Guangdong, China.
May 1997 – The first person known to catch H5N1 bird flu dies in Hong Kong. The virus has been causing an epidemic among poultry in the city.
November-December 1997 – There are 18 new human cases of H5N1 bird flu in Hong Kong, 12 with direct contact with infected poultry. Six people die. Officials destroy 1.4 million chickens and ducks.
Jan. 5, 2003 – Health authorities in Vietnam inform the WHO office in Hanoi of an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in 11 previously healthy children hospitalized in Hanoi, with the most recent hospital admission on Jan. 4. Seven cases were fatal and two patients remain critically ill. A 12th case, a sibling of one of the Hanoi cases, died of a respiratory illness in a provincial hospital.
Jan. 6, 2003 – A member of the press informs the WHO office in Hanoi of rumored chicken deaths in southern Vietnam. The regional office in Manila is alerted.
Jan. 7, 2003 – WHO informs public health officials worldwide through its electronically distributed Outbreak Verification List.
Jan. 8, 2003 – Authorities in Vietnam report outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5 subtype (later confirmed as the H5N1 strain), at farms in the southern provinces of Long An (two farms) and Tien Giang (one farm). Around 70,000 birds died or were destroyed. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country.
Jan. 11, 2003 – Since the Jan. 5 report, Vietnamese officials have identified two further cases of severe respiratory illness (another child and the first adult), bringing the total since the end of October in Hanoi’s hospitals to 13.
Jan. 12, 2003 – Hong Kong’s National Influenza Centre confirms infection with H5N1 in a third fatal case in Vietnam, the 30-year-old mother of the 12-year-old girl.
Jan. 13, 2003 – Authorities in the Republic of Korea announce the spread of H5N1 infection to an additional farm, dashing hopes that the epidemic had been brought under control. To date, about 1.6 million birds have died or been destroyed.
Jan. 14, 2003 – WHO sends an urgent request for assistance to GOARN to identify experts to support the Vietnamese health authorities and the WHO office in Hanoi. Immediate objectives are to reduce the risk of transmission from birds to humans and to support health authorities in the epidemiological investigation and containment of human cases. Expertise is also requested to increase laboratory capacity, advise on hospital infection control and strengthensurveillance
for human cases.
Jan. 15, 2003 – A fourth case of human infection with H5N1 is confirmed in Vietnam. All four cases, which had been hospitalized in Hanoi, were fatal.
Jan. 19, 2003 – A fifth fatal case of H5N1 infection is confirmed in Vietnam, also in Hanoi.
Jan. 20, 2003 – Laboratories in the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network accelerate work needed to develop an H5N1 vaccine for humans.
Jan. 22, 2003 – Network laboratories determine that H5N1 viruses in the current human and avian outbreaks are significantly different from H5N1 viruses in outbreaks in Hong Kong in 1997 and 2003, indicating that the virus has mutated.
Jan. 23, 2003 – Authorities in Thailand report an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 strain, at a farm in Suphanburi Province. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country. Nearly 70,000 birds have died or been destroyed. Japan, the EU and other major export markets immediately ban all Thai poultry products.
Jan. 24, 2003 – Vietnam reports two more cases of H5N1 infection in children hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City – the first cases from the south. One child dies, and the second remains hospitalized in critical condition. The country has now reported seven cases, six of which were fatal.
Jan. 25, 2003 – WHO staff and a GOARN international team, with support from Health Canada, arrive in Thailand.
Jan. 26, 2003 – Authorities in Thailand report laboratory confirmation of the country’s third case, also in a young child. One of the two previously confirmed cases dies.
Jan. 27, 2003 – Thailand’s third case, reported on Jan. 26, dies. Of the three cases, one remains alive.
Jan. 28, 2003 – Pakistan reports an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Testing detects the H7 subtype. The report states that 1.7 million hens have either died or been destroyed.
Jan. 30, 2003 – Chinese authorities confirm H5N1 infection in poultry at farms in an additional two provinces, Hunan and Hubei. Suspected outbreaks are reported in Anhui and Guangdong provinces and in Shanghai municipality.
Feb. 1, 2003 – Vietnam confirms two further cases, both fatal, in sisters, aged 23 and 30 years. Of the country’s 10 cases, eight have died, one has recovered, and one remains hospitalized.
Feb. 2, 2003 – Thailand reports its fourth confirmed case of H5N1 infection in a 58-year-old woman from Suphanburi Province, who died on 27 January. Of the country’s four cases, three have been fatal.
Feb. 3, 2003 – Thailand’s one surviving case, reported on Jan. 23, dies. To date, Thailand has reported four cases, all fatal.
Feb. 4, 2003 – Chinese authorities report the spread of H5N1 infection in poultry to farms in two additional provinces.
Feb. 5, 2003 – Vietnam reports two further cases, both fatal, in young adults.
Feb. 6, 2003 – A GOARN international team arrives in Cambodia. Members of the GOARN team are drawn from the Institut de Vielle Sanitaire, and the Institut Pasteur Network in France.
Feb. 8, 2003 – U.S. authorities report an outbreak of avian influenza at a farm in Delaware. H7 is detected in the initial tests. Further tests are initiated to determine if the H7 subtype is highly pathogenic. Some 12,000 birds are destroyed.
Feb. 9, 2003 – Vietnam reports three additional cases, two of which were fatal.
Feb. 10, 2003 – Chinese authorities report a suspected H5N1 outbreak at a chicken farm in Tianjin Municipality. Spread to additional farms within other provinces is also reported. Altogether, H5N1 infection is suspected or confirmed on 39 farms in 14 of the country’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Of the outbreaks at 39 farms, 19 are confirmed as caused by H5N1.
Feb. 11, 2003 – In the investigation of possible human-to-human transmission in Vietnam, results from the analysis of virus isolated from the second sister in the family cluster show that the virus is of avian origin and contains no human influenza genes. WHO issues guidelines for global surveillance aimed at monitoring spread of H5N1 infection in human and animal populations.
Feb. 12, 2003 – Thailand confirms its sixth case, a 13-year-old boy.
April 2003 – The Netherlands reports H7N7 bird flu in over 80 human cases with the death of one veterinarian.
Mid-2003 – H5N1 bird flu spreads in Asia, but it is either undetected or unreported.
Dec. 2003 – Tigers and leopards in a Thailand zoo die of H5N1 bird flu after eating fresh chickens. It’s the first time bird flu has been seen in large felines.
Dec. 12, 2003 – The sudden death of chickens at a farm in Eumsung district, near the capital city of Seoul, prompts suspicions of an epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the Republic of Korea. Tests are initiated. Of the 24,000 chickens on the farm, 19,000 died between Dec.5 and Dec. 11. The remaining 5,000 were culled.
Dec. 17, 2003 – Authorities in the Republic of Korea formally report an epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza, caused by the H5N1 strain of the virus, at the chicken farm. This is the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza has ever been reported in the country. No symptoms are reported in farmers in close contact with the infected chickens.
Dec. 26, 2003 – Authorities in the Republic of Korea report the spread of H5N1 infection to chicken and duck farms in five provinces. Altogether, more than 1.3 million chickens and ducks have died or been destroyed.
Jan. 11, 2004 – Humans in Vietnam come down with H5N1 bird flu caught from poultry. There is a high death rateamong infected people, but the disease does not spread from person to person.
Jan. 23, 2004 – Thailand reports human H5N1 bird flu infections.
February 2004 –The last HPAI outbreak among U.S. poultry occurs. A flock of chickens in Texas comes down with an H5N2 virus. A quick response by state and federal officials keeps the virus from spreading beyond this one small flock. There are no human cases.
Feb. 1, 2004 – Vietnam investigates a family cluster of H5N1 cases. Person-to-person spread cannot be ruled out, but the virus is not spreading among humans.
Feb. 20, 2004 – Thailand reports H5N1 infection of domestic cats in a single household.
Oct. 11, 2004 – H5N1 infection spreads among tigers in a Thai zoo.
Feb. 2, 2005 – Cambodia reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu. It is fatal.
April 30, 2005 – China reports that wild birds are dying at a lake in central China. The lake is a major stop along migratory pathways. Within weeks, more than 6,300 wild birds are dead.
July 21, 2005 – Indonesia reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu.
October 2005 – H5N1 is reported in poultry in Turkey and Romania and in wild birds in Greece and Croatia.
Nov. 1, 2005 – The WHO’s official count of human cases of H5N1 reaches 122, with 62 deaths, in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Nov. 10, 2005 – China quarantines 116 people in northeastern Liaoning province after two new outbreaks of bird flu occur there.
Nov. 21, 2005 – After a duck from a poultry farm near Abbotsford, British Columbia is discovered to carry the low pathogenic H5 strain of bird flu, the United States places an interim ban on poultry exports from the Canadian province.
Nov. 23, 2005 – China announces its second human death related to the bird flu virus, a 35-year-old farmer identified only by her surname, Xu.
Nov. 28, 2005 – A 16-year-old Indonesian boy (the country’s 12th human case of the disease) is said to be on the road to recovery.
Nov. 29, 2005 – China reports two more flu outbreaks in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang region and in the central Hunan province.
Nov. 30, 2005 – Regulatory bodies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization(WHO) announce plans to meet early 2006 to discuss how to speed up production of a bird flu vaccine
.
Dec. 1, 2005 – Eight new cases of bird flu are reported in the remote village where the H5N1 virus was detected in October.
Dec. 2, 2005 – Abnormalities found in the X-rays of 14 Vietnamese bird flu patients mean the procedure can be used to predict whether the disease will be fatal.
Dec. 3, 2005 – More than 1,600 dead birds in southern Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula test positive for the H5 strain of the bird flu virus. Representatives announce that test results, indicating whether the lethal strain was H5N1, should be released Dec. 8.
Dec. 4, 2005 – Cioacile becomes the fourth village in eastern Romania’s Braila county to be quarantined in a week after three chickens test positive for the bird flu H5 virus. New samples are sent out to determine whether these strains are H5N1.
Dec. 5, 2005 – Romania quarantines two more villages in the southeastern part of the country’s Danube delta amid fears of a bird flu outbreak there.
Dec. 8, 2005 – A 31-year-old farmer, who fell ill on Oct. 30 with high fever and pneumonia-like symptoms, is confirmed as China’s fifth human case of bird flu after falling sick following contact with dead birds. She has since recovered.
Dec. 9, 2005 – The agriculture minister of Turkey, Mehdi Eker, announces there is no longer any bird flu in Turkey. This causes some controversy when it is later revealed that bird flu was detected in the laboratories of the Agriculture Ministry on this very same day.
Dec. 13, 2005 – Zhou’s blood samples test negative for the H5N1 virus when tested by the Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dec. 15, 2005 – Turkey reports an oubreak of bird flu in poultry located nine miles from its border with Iran. Three hundred fifty-nine fowl are destroyed in an attempt to contain the infection.
Dec. 21, 2005 – Zhou, the 41-year-old Chinese factory worker, dies in a hospital in the southeastern province of Fujian, China. Doctors fear bird flu may be responsible.
Dec. 23, 2005 – Further testing of blood samples of Zhou confirms she died of complications arising from the H5N1 avian flu strain. This brings the total number of bird flu related fatalities for December 2005 to six; the worst since March 2005, when seven people died.
Dec. 29, 2005 – China announces its seventh human case of bird flu and its third fatality.
Jan. 1, 2006 – A 14-year-old boy named Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, from Dogubeyazit, Turkey, dies, but health officials say bird flu was not the cause, instead attributing the death to pnuemonia.
Jan. 3, 2006 – Bogus bird flu drugs begin to flood the internet.
Jan. 4, 2006 – Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, who died on Jan. 1, is confirmed to have died of bird flu, contradicting the initial report that the boy had died from pneumonia.
Jan. 5, 2006 – Turkey’s second known human case of bird flu, 15-year-old Fatma Kocyigit, dies in the early morning. Health officials say that these cases are not the beginning of a pandemic.
Jan. 6, 2006 – A study in Vietnam suggests the bird flu virus is more widespread –and spreads between humans –more easily than most experts surmise, but that it also probably doesn’t kill half its victims. The study is not considered definitive, but experts call the information “compelling.”
Jan. 7, 2006 – Hulya Kocyigit becomes the third person in Turkey to die of the bird flu.
Jan. 9, 2006 – A total of 14 people have been diagnosed with bird flu in Turkey (pending lab confirmation), but UN health experts say there is still no evidence to suggest it is spreading between humans.
Jan. 11, 2006 — Two brothers, four and five years old, test positive for the H5N1 virus, but neither shows symptoms of the disease. They are closely watched at Kecioren Hospital in Turkey’s capital of Ankara, as doctors are unsure if the boys have human bird flu in its earliest stages, or if the infection does not necessarily lead to illness.
Jan. 12, 2006 — Analysis of virus samples from two of the Kocyigit children detects a change in one gene in one of two samples tested, but WHO says it is too early to tell whether the mutation is important.
Jan. 13, 2006 — The World Health Organization confirms Indonesia’s 12th bird flu fatality.
Jan. 14, 2006 — A 13-year-old Indonesian girl dies of bird flu, bringing the country’s bird flu death toll to 13.
Jan. 15, 2006 — Twelve-year-old Fatma Ozcan of Dogubayazit, Turkey, dies in hospital, but preliminary tests show she is negative for bird flu.
Jan. 16, 2006 — Tests show that Fatma Ozcan died from bird flu, making her Turkey’s fourth death related to the illness.
Jan. 17, 2006 — The 3-year-old brother of the Indonesian girl who died on Jan. 14, dies.
Jan. 18, 2006 — Testing confirms that the Indonesian toddler who died on Jan. 17 had bird flu.
Jan. 23, 2006 — China announces its 10th human case of bird flu infection. Indonesia announces two more bird flu-related deaths.
Jan. 25, 2006 — Bird flu kills a 29-year old woman Chinese woman, the seventh person to die from the disease in China.
(NaturalNews) News services such as the Bangkok Post are reporting that Thailand has had its first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu since December, and that even more people are displaying flu-like symptoms in areas with sick birds.
According to reports, a dead fighting cock from the Northern province of Phichit was identified as having the disease. The Thai agriculture ministry — which poultry farmers and at least one senator have accused of covering up bird flu outbreaks at the beginning of the month — confirmed today that the bird from the Ban Mun Nak district was infected, and Agriculture Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan also confirmed that the H5N1 strain had been confirmed in 20 blood samples from dead fighting birds from Phichit.
The birds were all reportedly imported, leading officials to ban the transport of birds and impose quarantine near the areas where the birds died.
This move may have come too late as the number of human cases in Thailand, currently confirmed to be 22 by WHO scientists, may rise soon due to a number of suspected cases that have cropped up.
Two sisters, aged 3 and 4, and three males — aged 59, 86 and 7 — have been hospitalized in Phichit with suspectedbird flu symptoms along with an 11-year-old girl who was admitted after chickens died on her family’s farm. Two men aged 35 and 67 were admitted to Uttaradit Provincial Hospital for bird-flu-like symptoms that occurred after they ate spotted doves, and three other Uttaradit province patients are suspected of having bird flu. A 5-year-old boy from Phitsanulok is also still under observation for the disease.
The setbacks come just 19 days after Sudarat announced that Thailand hoped to eradicate bird flu within three years.
(NaturalNews) As Laos reported its first outbreak in chickens since 2004, neighboring Thailand –which has been lauded for its prevention efforts over the past seven bird-flu-free months — reported its 15th H5N1-related death, Friday.
The 17-year-old boy’s infection may have come from his contact with infected fighting birds, experts say. While most people have caught the disease from contact with birds, there have been cases where family members have passed the disease to each other. Health experts fear that the virus — which has already killed more than 130 people since 2003 — will soon mutate to a less deadly but more easily transmittable strain, leading to a global pandemic.
Laos has not reported a death from bird flu yet, but the recent outbreak has killed about 2,500 chickens on a farm about 15 miles from the capital Vientiane, the same area where bird flu led to the death of more than 140,000 chickens in 2004.
Laos, Thailand, and the other countries of the Greater Mekong sub-region — Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar — have been making progress curtailing the spread of H5N1. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization representative Leena Kirjavainen said both countries had acted quickly to control the new outbreaks.
“The response has been very good and very prompt and very, very open,” Kirjavainen said. “Immediately when this outbreak happened they took immediate action – the bird flu teams and the Department of Livestock and (the) animalhealth centers.”
(NaturalNews) Thailand announced last week that because of rising prices of foreign-made HIV/AIDS drugs, it would issue a five-year license to manufacture an inexpensive generic version of Merck & Co.’s Efavirenz drug.
Though Merck — which holds the patent on Efavirenz — criticized the military Thai government’s decision to make its own cheaper version of the anti-retroviral drug, health advocates and AIDS activists commended the Health Ministry.
“This is both a brave and a progressive step by the Royal Thai Government to place the interests of people living with HIV in Thailand front and center,” said UNAIDS country coordinator Patrick Brenny.
The Thai government — headed by the military after a September coup to oust former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra — declared a “national emergency” under World Trade Organization rules that allow governments to issue compulsory licenses to manufacture patented drugswithout consent from the patent holder. Merck will receive a royalty of 0.5 percent on sales of its generic version of the drug, which will cost half what Merck charged for Efavirenz.
Thailand’s national drug program, which treats 82,000 of the 580,000 HIV/AIDS patients in the country, has gained international recognition for its efficacy. However, as AIDS patients live longer and foreign drug companies boost prices, the government has struggled with costs.
Thawat Suntrajarn, head of the Health Ministry’s Department of Disease Control, said foreign companies’ prices are “very high, making it a big hurdle for patients to access [HIV/AIDS drugs] and the government cannot afford them. In the long run [patients] need this anti-retroviral drug to live a normal life like others.”
Consumer health advocate Mike Adams, a vocal critic ofintellectual property rights for pharmaceuticals, said more and more countries are beginning to question the patent protection pharmaceutical companies are granted for chemical compounds.
“When it comes to AIDS and public health, most people in the world believe that drugs should be open source and available to the public at non-monopolistic prices,” Adams said. “But drug companies want to soak the population for as much money as they can, without consideration for whether people have AIDS, cancer or other diseases.
“They want to enforce profiteering prices on everyone, and they use the protection of intellectual property patents to get away with it,” he said.
Merck claims it makes no profits off Efavirenz in Thailand, and that the Thai government did not contact the company to attempt to resolve the cost problems before issuing the generic production license.
According to a World Bank study of the Thai drug program, the government took a risk in overriding Merck’s patent, as the decision could result in trade repercussions. However, supporters of the generic manufacturing license say the move could bolster Thailand’s ability to negotiate lower prices with other drug firms.
(NaturalNews) Thailand has authorized compulsory licenses to produce generic versions of two patented drugs, one being a HIV/AIDS antiretroviral drug, breaking the patents held by drug companies.
The decision comes at the protest of the World Health Organization, which wanted the country to come to a compromise solution with the drug companies to negotiate lower prices.
The WHO also has concerns that government-produced generics will not be of the same quality or effectiveness compared to the patented drugs.
The drugs involved are Kaletra, an HIV/AIDS antiretroviral drug produced by Abbott Laboratories from Illinois, and the blood-thinning medication Plavix, a popular drug produced by Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Thailand’s distribution of licenses to make the drugs is permitted by World Trade Organization rules, which say the country can declare a “national emergency” to produce the drugs and override heldpatents.
Thailand’s breaking of the local patent on Kaletra comes four months after the country broke the patent on another HIV/AIDS drug, Efavirenz by Merck.
Among its population of 64 million people, Thailand has more than 580,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, and its national health care system attempts to treat more than 82,000 HIV-positive people.
The move to make generics is expected to save the government $24 million in costs: Treating a person using Kaletra costs the government more than $4,000 a year, whereas using a generic would cost an estimated $1,400 a year, meaning the comparative cost of using a generic is up to two-thirds less.
Kaletra is used in Thailand for patients whose HIV has overpowered a weaker government-produced drug given to them as a first line of defense. Plavix, the other drug that Thailand broke the patent for, is one of the top five drugs sold worldwide, with sales of nearly $6 billion in 2005 alone.
Breaking patents and licensing these generic drugs could improve the Thai government’s ability to negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, the director of the Thailand-based Aids Access Foundation, Nimit Tien-udom, was reported as saying by the Thai News Agency.
Thailand is not the only country to break patents: India and Brazil are examples of other countries that produce generic versions of patented drugs under the “national emergency” regulations of the WTO.
A Canadian company also produced a generic version of Kaletra briefly in 2006 for the worldwide market until it was forced to stop.
(NaturalNews) Thailand has stepped up its challenge to drug companies, saying it will continue to override corporate patents and make generic drugs until the pharmaceutical industry lowers its prices.
The south Asian country, which last week broke patents for the HIV/AIDS retroviral drug Kaletra and the blood-thinning medication Plavix, said that it is considering granting more compulsory licenses to make generics within five major groups of medicine. These include anticancer drugs, heart medications and antibiotics.
Thailand’s distribution of licenses to make the drugs is permitted by World Trade Organization rules, which say a country can declare a “national emergency” to produce the drugs and override held patents.
“As a matter of fact, we don’t want to use the compulsory licensing policy because we don’t want to upset thepharmaceutical industry. However, we have to think about the many Thais who need the medicines badly but cannot have them,” Thailand’s Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla told the Bangkok Post.
Using a generic version of Kaletra could save the nationalized Thai health system around $24 million a year in costs.
In related news, Abbott Laboratories of Illinois offered on Monday to reduce the price of Kaletra to the Thai market by nearly half, to $167 a month. Importing a generic from Indiawould cost around $120 a month.
The price offered by Abbott is in line with what the company offers other lower-middle-income countries, but representatives for Thailand’s health ministry said that Abbott’s offer is still too high, according to the Xinhua news agency. Abbott and the Thai government will revisit negotiations next month regarding lowering the price of Kaletra.
The patent-breaking actions of the Thai government were praised by AIDS activists, but garnered disapproval from Washington and the pharmaceutical industry.
Natural health and consumer advocate Mike Adams had strong words for companies that do not offer their medicines at affordable prices.
“To claim ownership over medicine, and deny that medicine to impoverished citizens of poor nations, simply due to their economic status, is a crime against humanity and should be treated as such,” he said.
“I applaud the courage of Thailand to challenge the illegal drug cartel currently being operated by pharmaceutical companies, government regulators and patent attorneys,” Adams said, adding, “Thailand is setting a new ethical standard for dealing with drug companies: Refuse to recognize their intellectual property claims and do what’s right for the public.”
Thailand is not the only country to break patents: India and Brazil are examples of other countries that produce generic versions of patented drugs under the “national emergency” regulations of the WTO. However, Thailand is the first to actively threaten to override patents on a wide range of medicines.
