Nation Reports Its First 2006 Bird Flu Casualty

A 17-year-old Thai has died of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the country’s first such death this year as it battles fresh outbreaks of the disease, a senior health official said.

The teenager died in the northern province of Phichit, where authorities have culled hundreds of birds and restricted poultry movement in an effort to stamp out the first outbreak in eight months.

The youth is believed to have caught the virus while helping his father bury chickens last week. The father showed no symptoms of the virus that has killed 15 Thais since 2003.