The deadly strain of bird flu that killed 24 people in Southeast Asia early this year has erupted again in Thailand and China, but authorities in both countries said yesterday the outbreaks were under control.

Thailand said it had confirmed outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, at two farms near towns north of Bangkok.

China said the virus had struck a farm in central Anhui province, 300 km (180 miles) west of Shanghai.

Both governments were quick to tell worried populations that the new outbreaks were being dealt with decisively and a repeat of the unprecedented epidemic that swept across much of Asia earlier this year was unlikely.

“The outbreak has come under control,” the semi-official China News Service said on its Web site at www.chinanews.com.cn about the Anhui outbreak.

Nevertheless, a provincial official said the family that owned the infected farm and that those who had close contact with them had been isolated and were under observation.

Officials ordered the culling of all poultry within a 3-km (2-mile) radius of the farm. Poultry within a 5-km radius were being vaccinated. “Next we will strengthen quarantining of local agricultural product markets to prevent the spread of bird flu to human beings,” the provincial official said.

<B>No mass cull</B>

In Thailand, senior officials told Reuters the outbreaks appeared to be confined to the two farms involved near the towns of Ayutthaya and Phathum Thani because there were no signs of infection at neighbouring farms.

“So far, chickens have died only at the two farms,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said. “We have been monitoring all areas throughout the country 24 hours a day.” “We do not need to destroy other chickens in nearby farms,” said Livestock Department chief Yukol Limlaemthong. “The situation has been brought under control because no chickens in nearby farms have died.” The cause of the outbreak was under investigation, he said.

China blamed its new outbreak on migratory birds, which were thought to have spread the disease through Asia early this year as they headed south to warmer climes during the winter.

That epidemic created near-panic in many places, although human deaths were confined to Vietnam, where 16 people died, and Thailand, where the virus killed eight people.

About 100 million fowl died or were culled, more than 40 million of them in Thailand, which had been the world’s fourth-largest chicken exporter.

So far in the new outbreak, 8,000 chickens had been slaughtered at the infected farm near Ayutthya and more than 700 on the farm near Pathum Thani, the Thai officials said.

It was unclear how many birds in Anhui died of the disease, first reported on July 3, or how many had been culled and vaccinated. Thailand has never declared its epidemic over. China said in March it had stamped out the disease, but said bird flu could spread again as the weather warmed up and water fowl migrate.

The World Health Organisation expressed caution at the time, saying it believed no Asian country had yet contained the virus. (Additional reporting by John Ruwitch and Cher Gao in Beijing)

<B>Vissuta Pothong</B>