- Title: THAILAND: SECOND THAI BOY DIES OF BIRD FLU
- Date: 26th January 2004
- Summary: (W2) KANCHANABURI, THAILAND (JANUARY 26, 2004) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF HOME WITH FAMILY AND NEIGHBOURS SITTING FOR DEAD BOY'S (KAPTON'S) WAKE 0.06 2. SLV INTERIOR OF PEOPLE SITTING IN FRONT OF COFFIN 0.11 3. VARIOUS OF GRANDMOTHER LYING IN BED CRYING AND BEING COMFORTED BY FAMILY MEMBER 0.22 4. WIDE OF COFFIN WITH PHOTO OF KAPTON IN FRONT AND CANDLES BURNING 0.27 5. CLOSE ON PHOTO 0.31 6. SLV GRANDMOTHER WEEPING 0.34 7. CLOSE OF CANDLE BURNING, WITH PHOTO OF KAPTON BEHIND 0.42 8. SMV FAMILY MEMBERS LOOKING ON 0.47 9. VARIOUS OF WOMAN LIGHTING CANDLES 0.59 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) FATHER CHAMNAM BOUNMANUT SAYING "Why did the government cover this up? In my opinion, if the government was open to the public, we would have been able to protect ourselves. Nobody wants to get an infection, nobody wants to die." 1.19 11. WIDE OF FAMILY MEMBERS AT WAKE 1.24 12. CLOSE ON DEATH CERTIFICATE NOTING "BIRD FLU" AS CAUSE OF DEATH 1.29 13. SLV CHAMNAM HOLDING DEATH CERTIFICATE 1.35 (W2) BANGKOK, THAILAND (JANUARY 27, 2004) (REUTERS) 14. PAN OF PRESS GATHERED TO LISTEN TO THAI PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN SHINAWATRA IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT HOUSE 1.44 15. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) THAKSIN SAYING "Just report the facts, don't be so sensational about all those bans. It's alright, if anyone wants to ban us it's understandable because they want to protect their own people. But today cooked chickens are not banned, which demonstrates that Europe and Japan which are very concerned with sanitary matters still accept that anything cooked at a temperature over 75 degrees is harmless to health therefore cooked food is edible." 2.26 16. SLV PRESS 2.29 17. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) THAKSIN SAYING "I'd like to ask every party concerned to please lend a hand, this is our country. You don't have to protect this government, this government can stay or can go any time but this country must survive, Thai people must be healthy. Don't sex up your reports". 2.50 (W2) BANGKOK, THAILAND (JANUARY 26, 2004) (REUTERS) 18. WIDE OF PANEL DISCUSSION WITH EXPERTS ON BIRD FLU 2.56 19. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHO THAILAND REPRESENTATIVE BJORN MELGAARD SAYING "These viruses tend to recombine if they meet a cousin in the same human organism then they may exchange genetic material. And so if a combined infection of the avian virus and the human influenza virus occur in the same person then there is a considerable risk that this recombination will occur. If that occurs, there is the possibility that the new virus gains virulence, meaning that it will be much more infectious to humans and may also may have the high morbidity and mortality rates." 3.44 20. SLV PRESS LISTENING 3.48 21. SCU SOUNDBITE (English) UN FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION SENIOR OFFICIAL HANS WAGNER SAYING "We have six countries where the highly pathogenic avian flu virus has been confirmed, we have two countries where we have confirmed the low pathogen virus and we have two countries where we have chicken mortality and where the cases are investigated, are a significant potential threat as my colleague from the WHO mentioned already to human health. It's a disaster for agriculture, and particularly poultry production and it may impact food security. 4.22 (W2) SUPHANBURI, THAILAND (JANUARY 25, 2004) (REUTERS) 22. VARIOUS OF MASKED WORKERS CLEARING CHICKENS 4.32 23. WIDE OF FLOCK OF WILD BIRDS FLYING OVERHEAD 4.36 24. CLOSE ON CHICKENS BEING TAKEN OUT OF CAGES AND PUT IN SACKS 4.44 25. CLOSE OF ROWS OF CHICKEN HEADS POKING OUT OF CAGES 4.47 26. WIDE OF CHICKEN SHED WITH CHICKENS BEING CLEARED 4.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th February 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Reuters ID: LVA9N3DU9U0YN7M3ZJDO9ZF3FA8D
- Story Text: Second Thai boy dies of bird flu as the virus
spreads deeper into Asia.
EDITORS NOTE: VIDEO AS INCOMING ON PRIME MINISTER
A second boy died in bird-flu stricken Thailand on
Tuesday (January 27), as family members mourned the death
of six-year-old Kapton, the first confirmed casualty of
the deadly virus who died in the early hours of Sunday
(January 25) morning.
As family members held a night-long wake, weeping
beside the young boy's coffin which had been laid out in
their home in Kanchanaburi, west of Bangkok, father Chamnam
Bounmanut blamed the government for his son's death.
"Why did the government cover this up? In my opinion,
if the government was open to the public, we would have
been able to protect ourselves. Nobody wants to get an
infection, nobody wants to die," he said, clutching
Kapton's death certificate marking the cause as "bird flu".
This second death has put further pressure on the Thai
government, under attack from the political opposition and
newspapers accusing it of covering up the outbreak for
weeks.
It says although bird flu was suspected, an
announcement ahead of scientific proof would have been
irresponsible and caused panic.
The European Union also criticized the government for
non-transparency, banning Thai imports in a statement
saying "a complete reliance on Thai assurances does not
seem to be the best way to go forward".
The EU is a lucrative market for Thailand's chicken
exporters, their number two destination after Japan.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra downplayed the ban,
saying it was a natural response from countries trying to
protect themselves.
He didn't comment on the EU's references to
non-transparency, and said the media had exaggerated the
situation and its possible impact on the Thai economy.
"Just report the facts, don't be so sensational about
all those bans. It's alright, if anyone wants to ban us
it's understandable because they want to protect their own
people. But today cooked chickens are not banned, which
demonstrates that Europe and Japan which are very concerned
with sanitary matters still accept that anything cooked at
a temperature over 75 degrees is harmless to health
therefore cooked food is edible," he told reporters before
a morning cabinet meeting.
He has promised the bird flu crisis would be over in a
month, but the EU ban will be in place for at least nine
months -- increasing the economic strain on the country's
chicken producers.
"I'd like to ask every party concerned to please lend a
hand, this is our country. You don't have to protect this
government, this government can stay or can go any time but
this country must survive, Thai people must be healthy.
Don't sex up your reports," he said.
Thailand expanded its bird flu crisis zone to 10 of its
76 provinces from just two. Hundreds of troops were sent to
slaughter chickens across the country as the country
grapples with a virus the World Health Organisation fears
might unleash a pandemic if it mates with human influenza.
"These viruses tend to recombine if they meet a cousin
in the same human organism then they may exchange genetic
material. And so if a combined infection of the avian virus
and the human influenza virus occur in the same person then
there is a considerable risk that this recombination will
occur. If that occurs, there is the possibility that the
new virus gains virulence, meaning that it will be much
more infectious to humans and may also may have the high
morbidity and mortality rates," said senior WHO official
Bjorn Melgaard.
The WHO said it has no evidence of its greatest fear-
people-to-people transmission yet.
"We have six countries where the highly pathogenic
av
ian flu virus has been confirmed, we have two countries
where we have confirmed the low pathogen virus and we have
two countries where we have chicken mortality and where the
cases are investigated, are a significant potential threat
as my colleague from the WHO mentioned already to human
health. It's a disaster for agriculture, and particularly
poultry production and it may impact food security", said
Hans Wagner, a senior FAO official.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
